v*^*> ... < 









a: 



REimiSCENCES 



OF 



THOMS CHALMEES, D.D., LL.D. 



JOHN ANDEESON; ESQ,, 

AUTHOR OF " SKETCHES OF THE EDDTBrRGH CLERGY," ETC. 



EDINBURGH : JAMES In ICHOL. 
LONDON : JAMES NISBET & CO. GLASGOW : GRIFFIN & CO. 

M.DCCC.LL 



EDINBURGH : 
PRINTED BY J. A. BALLANTTNE, 
PAUL'S WORK. 



T 

5 PREFACE, 
j . . 

The history of this Tolume may be given very 
briefly : — 

One of the most interesting and deliofhtful 
characters the author ever met with was Dr 
Chalmers, and he considered it one of the highest 
privileges of his life to enjoy the intimacy of such 
a man. He early perceived the clearness and 
massiveness of his intellect, and felt the tahs- 
manic power of his eloquence, and consequently 
became observant of his every movement, con- 
vinced that he was a man who would make a 
lasting impression on society — a man akin to 

"The solitary monk who shook the world" — 

destined to exercise a remarkable influence over 
his fellow-creatures, and to be an instalment, 
under Providence, for the advancement and ame- 
lioration of mankind — such a one as only rises 
up in the course of centuries. 

The author had been in the habit of keep- 
ing a private joui^nal, and literary diary, for 
forty years; and on almost every occasion on 
which he had the advantage of hstening to this 
distinguished man, he took memoranda of the 



iv 



PREFACE. 



most impressive passages in the discourses de- 
livered, and on reading these digests or abstracts, 
thej always appeared deeply interesting. Hence 
the idea occurred, that if embodied and given to 
the public, vrith other " Reminiscences,^^ they 
might prove useful, and lead many to the perusal 
of the works of Dr Chalmers. It is almost need- 
less to say, that the more the writings of such a 
man are diffused, the better for the world. 

In 1832, the author published a short literary 
and biographical memoir of Dr Chalmers, in the 
Sketches of the Edinburgh Clergy, He has since 
repeatedly heard an expression of surprise at his 
having at that period pitched his character so 
high ; but a place has now been awarded to 
Chalmers among the greatest men of his age and 
country, and everything regarding him is felt to 
become more and more interesting. 

The volume has no pretensions of a high order, 
and the author is sensible of its many imperfec- 
tions ; but if it tend in any degree to spread 
abroad the wholesome and striking truths which 
especially characterise the productions of Dr Chal- 
mers, and lead to an increased acquaintance with 
his works, the object he had in view will be fully 
accomplished. 
Edinburgh, 18^A October 1851. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

PART I.— 1780-1815. 
EAELY LIFE, 1 

PART II.— 1815-1823. 
WHILE MINISTER IN GLASGOW, 26 

PART III.— 1823-1828. 
PROFESSOR OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY, ST ANDREWS, . 85 

PART lY.— 1828-1843. 
PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, 129 



PART Y._1843-1847. 
PRINCIPAL OF THE NEW COLLEGE, .... 327 



ERRATA. 



Page 12, line 10 from foot, for severity, read serenity. 

... 139, ... 14: ... test, reacZ text. 

... 143, ... 9 ... us, read them. 

... 145, ... 14 from top, for these, read men. 

... 224, ... 16 ... days, reat? weeks. 

... 232, ... 2 ... went over, reacZ he went over. 

... 272, ... 4 ... it, reacZ them. 

... 287, foot of page, for had been, read who had been. 

... 307, line 6 from top, for which, read in which. 

... 336, ... 7 from foot, /or 1830, reat? 1839. 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



PART 1. 
1780-1815. 

Early Life. 

Thomas Chalmers was born at Easter Anstruther, in 
Fife, on 17th March 1780, being St Patrick's day.* 

The family had long been connected with Fife. 
His great-grandfather and granduncle were ministers 
of EHe. His father was a merchant in Easter An- 
struther, and for some time chief magistrate of that 
burgh. He had eight sons and five daughters ; and 
his memory always kindled up warm and deep emo- 
tion in the heart of his eminent son. His mother, 
Ehzabeth Hall, was the daughter of a merchant at 
Crail. 

* When afterwards Professor of Divinity in the University of Edin- 
burgh, and Principal of the Free College, he enterta-ined his Irisk students 
annually on that day. 



2 



BEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMEKS. 



Thomas Chalmers was sent to school at Anstruther 
when quite a child ; his natural ardour and power of 
character were early developed, as was shewn by an 
observation of his father- — Our Tarn had aye a great 
birr wi' himr 

When a boy of seven years of age, he has been 
described somewhat graphically as having a broad 
face, a large curly head, and a countenance which be- 
spoke great openness of character and intelligence, 
along with a certain dreaminess, which neither the 
penetration of his seniors nor the shrewdness of his 
boyish associates could well understand." 

In 1791 he entered as a student of the University 
of St Andrews, in the united College of St Salvator 
and St Leonard. The celebrated Dr John Hunter 
was then Professor of Humanity, and Mr Nicolas 
Vilant, Professor of Mathematics. Dr James Brown, 
afterwards Professor of Natural Philosophy in the 
University of Glasgow, was acting as assistant to the 
latter; and young Chalmers entered with great keen- 
ness on his mathematical studies at this class, in which 
he soon distinguished himself. 

At this time — a rough homespun lad, both in his 
manners and appearance — he had a strong desire to 
visit the great metropolis of the island, and said, he 
would consent to hve a' his life on parritch and yill 
for ae day in Lunnan.* 

In 1795 he entered as a student at the Divinity 

*■ Anglice, All his life on porridge and ale for one day in London. 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



3 



Hall in St Mary's College, St Andrews — the Pro- 
fessor being Mr Robert Arnott, and the Principal, Mr 
George Hill, whose lectures Chalmers afterwards gave 
as a text-book to his own students, when Professor 
of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh. In the 
session 1797, John Campbell (son of the mini- 
ster of Cupar-Fife, afterwards Attorney-General of 
England, and now Lord Chief-Justice of the Queen's 
Bench), the celebrated Dr John Leyden, and Thomas 
Chalmers, were members of the Theological Society 
at St Andrews, and used to engage in weekly debates 
on Uterary and theological subjects. Thomas Chalmers 
continued at the University of St Andrews till 1798, 
when he went as private tutor to the family of a Mr 
Stevenson, near Arbroath. He remained there for one 
season, and was Ucensed as a preacher of the gospel 
by the Presbytery of St Andrews in July 1799, aud 
in the following month he preached his first sermon at 
Wigan in the north of England. 

During the sessions 1799, 1800, and 1801, he 
studied at the University of Edinburgh, under Pro- 
fessors Dugald Stewart, Playfair, Robison, and Hope, 
and resided a considerable part of the time in the 
house of his maternal uncle, the father of Mr Alex- 
ander Cowan, and grandfather of Mr Charles Cowan, 
one of the present members of Parliament for the 
city of Edinburgh, 

In July 1801 he was appointed assistant to the Rev. 
Thomas Elliot, minister of Cavers, a parish very plea- 
santly situated, a few miles from Hawick in Roxburgh- 



4 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



shire. His predecessor in this temporary assistantship 
was his friend the Rev. W. B. Shaw, who had now be- 
come minister of Roberton ; and he resided chiefly at 
his manse during the period of his connexion with the 
parish of Cavers ; but during the latter part of the 
time he was domiciled in the town of Hawick. It was 
said that he would here occasionally mount the pul- 
pit and give a talented descant on botany or chemistry 
— the great change in his character not having as yet 
taken place ; but even at that time Dr Leyden's sister, 
who lived in the neighbourhood, had the sagacity to 
see and appreciate his genius and intellectual power, 
and remarked that " Chalmers would be heard o' yet!" 
Chalmers, to the latest period of his life, cherished a 
lively feehng of kindness and gratitude to his friends 
in this picturesque and southern region of Scotland. 
The Elhots, Ushers, and Potts, who were among his 
parisliioners, or resident in the neighbourhood, were 
names ever famiUar to him as household Tvords. 

In November 1802 he was appointed minister of 
Kilmany, a parish beautifully situated, to use his own 
words, amid the green hills and smihng valleys" of 
the east of Fife, and which, from his long residence in 
it, and the solemn and important events in his per- 
sonal history which took place there, was ever dear 
to his memory. 

At this period his favourite study, and one in which 
he attained the highest excellence, was mathematics ; 
and the great object of his ambition for a long period 
was the chair of that science in one of the Scottish 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



5 



universities. Mr Vilant, the Professor of Mathematics 
at St Andrews, had been for some time an invahd, and 
the assistantship to him was vacant. Chalmers, cap- 
tivated with this apparent entree to a mathematical 
chair, obtained the appointment ; and, with the pros- 
pect of being, de facto, a pluralist, to which his views 
were not then opposed, he devoted himself with the 
utmost zeal to geometrical studies, and taught Pro- 
fessor Vilant's class during the session 1802-3 at St 
Andrews, with the most brilUant success. 

He was ordained minister of Kilmany 12th May 1803. 
The church was distant upwards of eight miles from 
St Andrews, and he had calculated on resuming his 
labours as assistant to Professor Vilant — an occupation 
in which he felt deeply interested ; but the Professor 
intimated that he did not require his further services, 
and there were circumstances connected with tliis in- 
timation which induced him, with that invincible deter- 
mination which was a striking feature of his character, 
to announce that he would teach a private class of 
mathematics at St Andrews that winter. He likewise 
commenced a course of lectures on chemistry — a science 
in which he also excelled. Chalmers was thus, with 
all the confidence of youthful genius, at the age of 
twenty-three, filling the pulpit of Kilmany on the 
Sabbath, as the parish minister, and conducting mathe- 
matical and chemical classes at the University of St 
Andrews, to the astonishment of that then soporific 
seat of science. His natural energy was visible even 
in the way in which he maintained discipline in his 



6 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



class, among lads some of whom thought they might 
take advantage of the youthful appearance of their 
teacher. He had imposed a fine of a shilling on 
those who were late in coming to the class ; and one 

day, a youth, Mr R , who was in this predicament, 

instead of handing the fine to his preceptor, threw it 
down contemptuously on the floor. Chalmers quietly 
stooped and lifted it up, and thus addressed him— the 
words we took down many years ago from Colonel 
Playfair of St Andrews, who had a lively recollection 
of them, and was then a student at the class : — " Mr 

R , perhaps you think it's painful for me to inflict 

this fine ; but, depend upon it, sir, I'm never more in 
my element than when blasting the impertinence of a 
puppy. Mr R — — , you seem to think learning beneath 
your notice ; but, take my word for it, sir, you are most 
egregiously mistaken if you suppose that the swag- 
gering importance of a buck will carry you through 
the world.'' It may easily be imagined that after this 
occurrence the discipline of the class was better pre- 
served. 

His chemical lectures had become so popular at St 
Andrews, that in November 1804 he began another 
course, which was well attended ; and he dehvered a 
similar series at Kilmany, and also at the town of 
Cupar. 

In 1805 the celebrated " Leslie controversy" arose, 
on the death of Dr Robison, Professor of Natural Phi- 
losophy in the University of Edinburgh. The candi- 
dates for the vacant chair were the Rev. Thomas 



REMmSCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



7 



Macknight, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, the 
Rev. Thomas Chalmers, minister of Kilmany, and Mr, 
afterwards Sir John, Leshe. It had been long thought 
that the moderate clergy of Edinburgh were anxious 
to monopolise as many of the university professorships 
as they could ; and on the occasion of this vacancy they 
came forward with a claim of right to advise" the 
Magistrates and Town Council on the election of all 
the professors, and remonstrated against Mr Leslie's 
appointment, as they considered that, in a note regard- 
ing cause and effect in his Essay on Heat, he had sup- 
ported an opinion which they deemed calculated to 
subvert the foundation of religion. It was alleged 
that they now urged their claim to this avisa- 
mentum, in order to carry their colleague, Mr Mac- 
knight ; and Mr Creech, the well-known bookseller and 
pubhsher, who was afterwards Lord Provost of Edin- 
burgh, composed the following clever jeu d'esprit on 
the occasion : 

Jolm Leslie says lie cannot state 

How causes to effects relate : 

Our illustration we liave sent him, 

By giving our avisamentum. 

If we succeed, he must acknowledge 

"We get possession of the College ; 

And thus, when church with chair connects, 

Our cause will douUe our effects.'' 

The controversy gave rise to many interesting pub- 
lications. It was the origin of Dr Thomas Brown's 
subtle and able essav on Cause and Effect; and Pro- 
fessor Playfair brought out a pamphlet on the occasion 
which roused the early wit and genius of Chalmers, 



8 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



as he considered that Playfair, in his production, had 
unjustly reproached the ministers of the Church of 
Scotland with a want of mathematical talent. 

He made his first appearance as an author — to vin- 
dicate the Scottish clergy from this imputation — in the 
form of a letter addressed to Professor Playfair. It 
was published anonymously at Cupar-Fife, and was 
not generally known to be from his pen. He had 
the sagacity here to appreciate the merits of Dr 
Thomas Brown's essay on Cause and Effect, which 
he well characterises in the following remarks: — ''I 
offer my respectful compliments to the author, and my 
acknowledgments for the instruction I have received 
from the perusal of his excellent pamphlet. In his calm 
and dispassionate inquiry, he has evinced the purity 
of a mind untinctured by the errors or the virulence 
of either party. He has virtually overthrown the 
established jargon of the day on the subject of physi- 
cal and efiicient causes, and demonstrated that both in 
matter and in mind we are at last reduced to the 
accompaniment of two facts, but facts to which, in 
virtue of an original principle, we attach the same idea 
of causal connexion. The author is unknown to me ; 
but I have not yet learned to despise excellence though 
it has neither name nor authority to emblazon it." 

Chalmers, we believe, was not without some chance 
of success for this vacant chair in the University of 
Edinburgh; but some of his nearest relatives felt 
anxious that he should continue a clergyman, and he 
withdrew his pretensions to the chair, in order to 



REMmSCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



9 



remain in the bosom of that church of which he was 
destined to be one day the most distinguished orna- 
ment. 

Many years after this we met with the following 
excellent and eloquent notice of Chalmers' part in this 
controversy: — Of those who took an interest in the 
Leslie dispute, some, we doubt not, might be amused, 
as we were, with an anonymous combatant, somewhat 
singularly accoutred, who, without falling into the 
ranks on either side, stood forth as the champion of 
the sacred order, hurling most fearful defiance at a 
certain celebrated professor, who, in his zeal for the 
interests of science and hterature, had spoken rather 
unjustly of the mathematical capacities of the Scottish 
clergy. That indignant spirit, which felt its own ac- 
quirements undervalued in those of its order, and saw, 
with the bitterness of wounded ambition, its fine enthu- 
siasm for the pursuits of philosophy rudely trampled 
on by what it esteemed and feared not to call the 
insolence of a literary despot — that spirit has now 
burst upon the world, and gathered around it a nume- 
rous circle of admirers, under the great and popular 
name of Dr Chalmers. By a change which some may 
ridicule, but those who know anything of true reh- 
gion will not deem surprising, he has learned to ^ count 
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge 
of Christ Jesus our Lord.' " 

In 1805 Chalmers accompanied the St Andrews 
volunteers — in which corps he held the rank of heu- 
tenant and chaplain — to Kirkcaldy on permanent duty. 



10 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



While there, he found an old acquaintance, the Eev. 

Mr W , who had held a dissenting charge at St 

* Andrews, and afterwards in the west of Fife, but who 
was now in bad health and reduced circumstances. 
Chalmers, on being appUed to, told him that he had no 
money to give him, but that he would preach a ser- 
mon and endeavour to raise some little sum for him. 
He accordingly called on Dr Fleming, the minister 
of Kirkcaldy, and requested the use of his church; 
but he was then only known as a young clergyman 
who had delivered some lectures on chemistry, and 
written a pamphlet in which he hinted that parish 
ministers had more spare time on their hands than 
their allotted duties required. These sentiments ap- 
pearing to Dr F. unsuited to the cloth, he declined 
giving his church. Having told his friend of the disap- 
pointment, he said, " I will give a course of chemical 
lectures for your behoof." He accordingly engaged 
a room, and delivered a very interesting course of 
lectures, many of the volunteer corps attending along 
with the people of the town. In this way he raised 

a considerable sum for Mr W . 

JSTothing shews better the scientific character and 
foresight of Chalmers' mind in modern discoveries 
than his having the new manse of Kilmany fitted up 
with gas pipes at this time; — a dozen years before 
even the metropohs of Scotland enjoyed the benefit 
of gas. 

Once, during the time the volunteers were in Kirk- 
caldy, Mr Chalmers preached to the corps in the 



REMmSCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



11 



church in the interval between sermons. On this 
occasion he wore his uniform, with a black gown above 
it. Occasionally, when he got warm in his discourse, 
and his action became vehement, the gown slipped 
aside, and displayed his military dress. 

In the summer of 1807 he visited London; and earlv 
in 1808 he brought out his second publication, whicii 
formed a goodly-sized octavo volume, and was entitled 
''An Inquhy into the Extent and Stabihty of Na- 
tional Resources." In this work he endeavoured to 
prove the independence of the country of foreign 
trade. It displayed great talent, and was eloquently 
written. TTith what laconic and emphatic force he 
gives the mental character of the celebrated Fox ! — 
" The truth is, that Mr Fox could not keep back with 
the tardy operations of other minds : whatever he 
saw, he saw with the rapidity of intuition." In his 
prefatory notice he states, that it was the pecuhar 
aspect of the times which suggested to the author of 
this performance the first conception of its leading 
principle. He has prosecuted the subject to a much 
greater extent than he originally intended ; and, inde- 
pendently of any temporary importance which it may 
derive from the present circumstances of the country, 
he now offers it to the public as a speculation which 
embraces some of the most interesting questions in 
pohtical science." We believe at the time tliis volume 
was designated his work on Bonaparte — from its bear- 
ing on the celebrated Berlin and Milan decrees. On its 
publication — as an event in his life which he held to be 



12 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



important — he entertained Dr, now Sir David, Brewster, 
and some other friends, at dinner, in lodgings he then 
temporarily occupied in St David Street, Edinburgh. 

On 25th May 1809, he delivered his first speech in 
the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland — a 
court which was so often afterwards to be thrilled with 
his eloquence. It was on the dry subject of the aug- 
mentation of stipends; but the sagacity and genius 
of the man were discernible even in this early effort. 
In the following passage, his object was to point 
out that a clergyman should not be exposed to an- 
noying litigation about his temporalities : — " How, in 
the name of wonder, does it happen that a minister 
should, of all other men, be singled out as the victim of 
such unparalleled hardships ? Is it that the fortune of 
the clergyman enables him to sustain it? Cast your 
eye over the face of the country, and let the poverty 
and degradation of the order speak for itself. Is it 
that the education of the minister furnishes him with 
more intrepidity than other men, and enables him to 
maintain the severity of his feelings amid the uproar 
of controversy, and the scowl of every heritor he meets 
with? I always understood that the diseased ten- 
dency of a student's mind lay in a kind of feverish 
sensibility, which could be ruffled and distressed by 
what would give no concern to a man of the world, 
whose mind has been disciplined to hardihood amid the 
storms and difficulties of active business. Is it of less 
consequence to the interest of his employment, that he 
hves in cordiality and peace with his neighbourhood 



REMmSCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



13 



around him ? Let us always remember that the em- 
ph^e of the rehgion he teaches hes in the affections of 
his hearers ; that it is the obedience of the heart to a 
lovely system of truth and of consolation ; that it with- 
draws its influence from minds occupied and degraded 
with the play of earthly passions ; and is the reign of 
truth over spirits fired with the ambition of immor- 
tality. Ai'-e the tormenting anxieties of a lawsuit less 
hurtful to a clergyman than to others in impairing the 
^dgour of his professional exercises ? Quite the reverse. 
Fill the heart of a man of business with anxiety, and 
he will flounder as well as before through the mechani- 
cal routine of a farm, or of a counting-house. Fill the 
heart of a clergyman with anxiety, and you cut asunder 
the very root of his exertions ; you invade the sohtude 
of his intellectual exercises ; you unbend the spring of 
his activity — ^for that activity hes in the mind ; and his 
mind must languish in imbecility the moment that it 
becomes the prey to a train of restless and consuming 
anxieties." 

During the autumn of the same year he was at- 
tacked with a severe illness, and his long confinement 
under tliis proved a most momentous season of his life. 
Recent bereavements in his father's family, and his 
own affliction, now led him to look at human life in a 
very different aspect from viewing it merely as a gay 
thoughtless scene, or without comparing it — in his 
mind's eye — with the magnitude of eternity. This 
was the first stage of the most eventful period of his 
life, and he came out from it an altered man. 



14 



EEMINISCEXCES OF DR CHALIVIERS. 



Our Saviour expressly says to Nicodemus, Ex- 
cept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom 
of God;" and this period seems to have been the turn- 
ing-point in the character of Chalmers — the time of his 
new birth. His great natural powers would have dis- 
tinguished him in whatever he had directed his atten- 
tion to, whether mathematics, botany, or chemistry; 
but it required the exercise of a higher power to wean 
his mind from mere worldly pursuits, and direct all 
his faculties to the moral and spiritual regeneration of 
his fellow-creatures, which henceforth formed the dis- 
tinguishing object of liis life.' And how rarely has it 
been given to one man to accomplish so much good as 
fell to his lot ! 

It was during his protracted but providential illness 
that the sudden death of an early friend and college 
companion, William Mitchell, occurred, from an acci- 
dent ; his friends, aware of the severe shock that the 
loss of one he had so much loved would give to his ner- 
vous system, did not communicate the painful intelli- 
gence for some time afterwards. On receiving it, he 
wrote the following kindly and characteristic letter to 
the father of his deceased companion : — 

Eilmany, December 23, 1809. — My dear Sir, — 
Tour truly affecting letter of the 24th only reached 
me yesterday. It found me on a bed of sickness, 
to which I have been confined for several months. 
I find now that the distressing and melancholy 
event has been known to my family for upwards 
of a fortnight, but, knowing my friendship for 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



15 



your excellent son, and the long habits of kindness 
and intimacy that had subsisted betwixt us, they used 
every precaution to conceal it from my knowledge, 
well aware of the shock that it would communicate to 
my feelings. Your letter gave me the first intelligence, 
and you may well beheve how much it has agitated 
and distressed me. Yours is a severe trial, and one of 
the heaviest visitations which a kind but mysterious 
Providence can inflict upon its childi^en. You have 
lost the pride and the ornament of your family, and 
one whose worth and talents and very estimable quali- 
ties will ever make him dear to the memory of all his 
acquaintances. Had I been at all fit for travelling, I 
should by this time have paid a visit to your house 
of mourning, and mingled my tears with the tears of 
your afflicted family. As it is, be assured that my 
heart feels for you all, and that I deeply sympathise 
with you in the bitterness of your affliction, In tliis 
dark hour of trial, there is one Friend who never fails; 
and a mind stored, as yours is, with the principles of 
the gospel, must feel the joy and the consolation of its 
promises. This awful event should impress upon all 
of us the vanity of human affairs. It should teach us 
the httleness of time and the greatness of eternity. It 
should withdraw our affections from the perishable 
comforts of the world, and fix them on that heaven 
where friends shall meet to part no more, and where, 
to use the simple but impressive language of the Bible, 
' God shall wipe away aU tears from our eyes.' Give 
my kindest sympathy to the Misses Mitchell and Mr 



16 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



Andrew. My prayer to Heaven for you all is, that 
you may be furnished with strength to bear you up 
against this dispensation. — I am, my dear Sir, yours 
with the sincerest condolence, 

''Thos. Chalmers." 

Some time before this, Dr Brewster had requested 
him to prepare several mathematical articles for the 
Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, and Chalmers specially 
solicited that the article " Christianity" for that work 
should be intrusted to him. The investigations con- 
sequent on this arrangement led him to study the 
lives of the primitive Christians, and to form a very 
high standard of the Christian character. He now 
engaged in a copious course of reading on the evi- 
dences of Christianity, during which he not only pre- 
pared this treatise, but may be said to have formed 
the germ of his various valuable writings on the evi- 
dences, and much of his future lectures on theology. 
These studies occupied a great portion of the years 
1809, 1810, and 1811 — a period not only deeply 
important in his own personal history, but important 
to the whole Christian world, which now reaps the 
benefit of this regenerating era in his life. 

In 1811 he became a contributor to the Edinburgh 
Christian Instructor, edited by the Rev. Andrew 
Thomson, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, and 
afterwards so well known as one of the most active 
and distinguished men in the Church of Scotland. 

It was about tliis period that he first read Wilber- 
force's Practical View of Christianity. It made a 



REMIXISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



17 



deep impression on his mind; and in writing, many- 
years afterwards, to that eminent philanthropist, Chal- 
mers thus expresses himself: May you be spared 
to spend among us a long old age of piety and peace! 
May you still have many days of rest and of rejoicing 
on the borders of heaven! And may that book which 
spoke powerfully to myself, and has spoken power- 
fully to thousands, represent you to future genera- 
tions, and be the instrument of convertino- manv who 
are yet unborn!"* 

In the year 1812, he occasionally preached in Edin- 
bm^gh for some of his friends, and first attracted 
notice in the metropolis of Scotland. On 4th August 
of that year he married Miss Grace Pratt, the 
daughter of Captain Pratt, near Cupar — a lady of 
whom the best character that can be given is, that 
the union was greatly blessed, and that her moral, 
mental, and religious accjuirements were such as emi- 
nently fitted her to be the chosen companion and the 
domestic solace of such a man as Chalmers ; she pos- 
sessed great influence with her husband during the 
period of a lengthened union, and by her prudence, 
good sense, and sound principles, that influence was 
always beneficially exercised. 

On the 26th October of the same year, he preached 
before the Dundee Missionary Society, on the text. 

Faith Cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of 
God." In this sermon, he says, If you have hearing 
without reading, you lay the church open to all the cor- 

* Wilberforce's Life, by Ms Sons, vol. v. 
B 



18 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



ruptions of Popery: you have priests; but you have no 
Bibles,— the faith of the people lies at the mercy of 
every capricious element in the human character. Keep 
fast by your Bible ; and bring the salutary control of 
a zealous, and enlightened, and reading population to 
bear upon the priesthood," This shews that even in 
those early days he was thoroughly opposed to any- 
thing like priestcraft or priestly domination. He 
stated that the £10,000 then annually expended by 
the Missionary and Bible Societies, did not amount to 
twopence a year for each individual in the British 
empire. 

Prior to the great change on his character, many 
of the common people regarded him as a very indif- 
ferent preacher, his sermons not being of an evan- 
gelical cast. A good illustration of this occurred with 
Mr, afterwards Sir James, Ivory, then residing at 
Dundee, who one day met a Kilmany man on the 
road, with whom he entered into conversation. The 
man said to him, You are weel aff at Dundee, sir, for 
ministers." Mr Ivory remarked, knowing Chalmers' 
talents, You are better off at Kilmany." The pea- 
sant replied, " As for Chalmers, sir, he's nae minister 
ava'. " This indicates that, though men of educa- 
tion saw and appreciated his natural powers, it was not 
till after the important change that the religious world 
and the " common people heard him gladly," as they 
did his great Master, and valued him as a minister of 
the gospel. His celebrity as a preacher became so 
great, from the powerful and impi^essive character of 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



19 



his discourses, and his moral suasion and earnestness, 
that the people from St Andrews, and Dundee, and 
the neighbourhood, used to flock on the Sabbaths to 
the quiet and sequestered church of Kilmany to hear 
the man — who was now so differently estimated by 
his people, that, before he left that parish, on its being 
remarked to one of his simple-minded hearers that 
their minister was like the apostle Paul — ^'Paul!" 
said he ; Paul wasna fit to baud the can'le to him,'* 
— ^thus evincing how enthusiastically they now felt his 
value. These two anecdotes well illustrate each other 
by antithesis, indicating the different estimate formed 
of their minister by his parishioners, at those two 
different periods of his history and character. 

Sabbath, 18th April 1813. — In the evening, Chal- 
mers preached his first charity sermon in Edinburgh, 
in St Andrew's Church, on behalf of the Society for 
Relief of the Destitute Sick, to a crowded audience, 
from the text, '^Blessed is he that considereth the 
poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble." 
His article, Christianity," in the Edinburgh Encih 
clopmdia, appeared the same year ; it excited great 
attention, and was soon after published in a dis- 
tinct volume, and obtained an extensive circulation. 
In his preface he says, " The contents of this volume 
form the substance of the article ' Christianity,' in the 
Edinburgh Encyclopcedia. Its appearance is due 
to the liberality of the proprietors of that work ; nor 
did the author conceive the purpose of presenting it 
to the world in another shape, till he was permitted 



20 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHAL^IERS. 



and advised by them to republish it in a separate 
form." 

Thursday, 26th May 1814. — Chalmers delivered, 
in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, 
an able speech against the union of professorships with 
parochial charges, on an overture from the Presbytery 
of Dundee, the Synod of Fife, and the Synod of Angus 
and Mearns ; and on coming to the vote, the motion he 
supported was carried by eighty-one against sixty-one. 

Thursday, 2d June 1814. — ^He preached on behalf 
of the Society for Propagating Christian Know- 
ledge in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, in 
the High Church of Edinburgh, a sermon which he 
entitled, " The Utility of Missions ascertained by 
Experience." It was powerful and argumentative in 
favour of Christian missions. His text was, And 
Nathanael said unto him. Can there any good thing 
come out of Nazareth ? Philip saith unto him, Come 
and see." 

In the same year he brought out a valuable pam- 
phlet entitled, The Influence of Bible Societies on 
the Temporal Necessities of the Poor," in which he 
argues that, among other blessings, the diminution 
of pauperism will flow from the multiphcation of these 
societies in the country. 

On the transference of Dr Stevenson M'Gill from 
being minister of the South West or Tron Church 
parish to the Divinity chair of Glasgow, the attention 
of the patrons — the Magistrates — was directed to 
obtain a minister of talent and piety to fill the vacant 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 21 



church. Chalmers was suggested, and a deputation of 
Glasgow citizens wa^s despatched to hear him. Their 
report was eminently favourable ; and Glasgow was for 
some time agitated, and on the qui vive, regarding 
the appointment to this vacant charge, as much as 
ever the political world had been at the election of a 
member of Parliament. Fortunately for the inte- 
rests of vital religion in Scotland, he who was to be 
one of the greatest and most useful men of his age — 
Thomas Chalmers- — was chosen on 25th November 
1814. The proposal regarding this appointment had 
stirred the deepest anxieties of his affectionate heart. 
On the one hand, he loved Kilmany, the scene of his 
dearest, tenderest, and most solemn recollections ; and 
he loved his parishioners, with their rural and simple 
habits — a people on whom his ministry was now exer- 
cising the most salutary influence. On the other hand, 
Glasgow presented a wide field of usefulness to one 
who could not be unconscious of his own inherent 
powers ; and who, though alarmed about the amount 
of secular duty and harassing cares which devolved on 
the Glasgow ministers, still felt it as a providential 
call which he ought not to resist. 

Sabbath, 2d April 1815. — '^At St Andrew's Church, 
Edinburgh, in the evening, heard Mr Chalmers of Kil- 
many. He is a famed preacher — a recent convert him- 
self to serious religion." * The sermon was on behalf 

* From tlie private journal of the author ; whicli is frequently referred 
to in the course of these Reminiscences. 



22 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



of the African and Asiatic Society. This was the first 
time we were aware of ever having seen Dr Chal- 
mers. The church was crowded — had to stand in the 
centre passage, near the door. At the distance Chal- 
mers seemed a plain-looking man. Our attention was 
arrested and rivetted by the opening of his discourse. 
He remarked, that it was of great importance, in con- 
ducting an argument, to have a starting-post to set 
out from — that no one could dispute. He proceeded to 
draw the character of a man guilty of every vice, and 
who at last, to crown the whole, committed murder. 
Xo one would deny that such a man belonged to the 

carnally minded." He then, as it were, took a slice 
off his character, and left only a thief — a robber : 
still, no person would dispute that he belonged to 
the same category. Then, at last, divesting him of 
the grosser vices — he painted him as an amiable 
and accomplished man : yet he wanted the ele- 
ment of godliness or holiness, without which we are 
assured no man shall see the Lord — and proved that 
still he belonged to the class of carnally-minded. 
Therefore, he earnestly and strenuously exhorted all, 
instead of doing their own will, and following their 
own corrupt and carnal inclinations, to seek to do the 
will of God. The discourse was eloquent, striking, 
and impressive, in the highest degree, and has left 
an indelible impression on the mind even after the 
lapse of thirty-six years ! 

Dr Robert Buchanan, in his recent excellent his- 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



23 



torical work,* makes the following eloquent and 
powerful remarks on the effects consequent on Dr 
Chalmers' removal from Kilmany to Glasgow : — It 
marked the commencement of a new era, not in his 
own personal history alone, but in the liistory of the 
revival of evangelical religion. Whatever influences 
existed and were in operation before on the side of 
that sacred cause, were immediately and immensely 
increased. There was in his case no transition period 
of slowly and gradually gathering fame — his sun shot 
up at once into the very centre of the firmament. 
From the comparative obscurity of his former position, 
he burst upon society in his new sphere as the greatest 
preacher of modern times. That massive intellect, 
which from boyhood had been measuring its strength 
and multiplying its resources, by grapphng with almost 
the entire circle of the sciences — that large heart, which 
God had touched and filled with the love of Christ, 
and which already had been burning with deep desires 
for the spiritual regeneration of his fellow-men — that 
native genius, whose lofty inspirations had been gi^dng 
to his earlier friends unequivocal promise of what it 
was yet destined to achieve, — had all at length attained 
a fitting field to call them forth and to exercise their 
highest powers. iSTot only was the pulpit in his hands 
found to be altogether abreast of science and philoso- 
phy, but those proud names which the enemies of the 
gospel had been accustomed in the preceding century 

* The Ten Years' Conflict: being the History of the Disruption of 
the Church of Scotland. 2 vols. 8vo. Glasgow : 1849. 



24 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS, 



to cliallenge as peculiarly their own, were now seen 
serving the uses of the most earnest piety, and minis- 
tering as humble and yet graceful handmaids at her 
shrine. It was not, however, as a preacher alone, 
unprecedented and unrivalled as his power in that 
department was, that he gave so mighty an impulse to 
evangelical truth. Never was piety more intensely 
practical than in this illustrious man. To reform 
society was the object of his life. The gospel could 
do this, and nothing else could do it; and how to 
bring that gospel to the homes and the hearts of the 
neglected masses that were multiplying with such fear- 
ful rapidity on the ' ground-floor' of the social edifice — 
this was his grand problem, which he spent his days 
in working out with incredible energy, and in labour- 
ing with matchless eloquence and power to get other 
men to learn. He set little value on any question of 
ecclesiastical polity, excepting in so far as it bore upon 
what was to him the all-important object of making 
the Church more efficient as an instrument for pro- 
moting the moral and spiritual well-being of the people. 
Possessed as he was, and as hardly any other man 
since Knox, or Luther, or Paul, was ever possessed 
before, with this one grand idea, he was sometimes, 
and especially in the earlier stages of his public career, 
impatient enough of those whom he was wont to desig- 
nate the 'jurists' of the Church, bent, as they were, 
on putting right the machinery, when he could think 
only of working the machine. Time, however, and 
experience, made him more and more sensible how 



EEMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



25 



closely the one process is connected with the other. It 
was mainly, indeed, bv the obstructions which the state 
of the ecclesiastical machinery presented to the carry- 
ing out of his own plans of practical usefulness, that 
his attention was gradually turned to its defects, and 
to the absolute necessity of hayino: them remedied." 

Sabbath, 9th July 1815 — Was a memorable day at 
Kilmany — ^it was his last Sabbath there. The people 
were parting with a much-loyed friend and minister — 
he was lea^^no- those who were endeared to him by a 
thousand associations. The journals of the da^y giye 
the followmg account of this touching and pathetic 
scene : — BQs audience was so numerous outside, as 
well a-s in the interior of the chm'ch, that their pastor 
had to station himself at one of the windows. His text 
was from Colossians — Rooted and built up in him, 
and stabhshed in the faith, as ye haye been taught, 
abounding therein T^^ith thanksgiying." The scene 
was highly instructiye and impressiye. The piety, the 
native and neryous eloquence of the preacher, which 
spurned at, and would haye been degraded by, the 
httle rules and niceties of colder hearts and duller 
heads, was roused to the utmost. Though persons of 
all ranks, and of many rehgious sects, attended, there 
was hardly a dry eye in the audience ; and when he 
came to take a personal farewell of his flock, the feel- 
ing was too yast eyen for him. He was obliged to be 
silent, and regard them with that eager and moistened 
eye which shewed how deai^ their best interests were 
to his heart. 



26 



REMUnSCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



PART 11. 
1815-1823. 

While Minister in Glasgow. 

Friday, 2\st July 1815. — The Eey. Thomas Chahners 
was admitted to the charge of the Tron Church parish, 
Glasgow ; the Rev. Dr M-'Lean of the Gorbals pre- 
sided on the occasion : and on 

Sabbath, 23d July 1815 — He preached his first 
sermon in his new church, to a crowded audience. 
His popularity soon became immense, and he added 
a new hterary celebrity to that hitherto commercial 
city. 

Every effort had been made in Glasgow, by those 
who were opposed to the election of a clergyman of 
evangehcal views, to prevent his appointment to the 
vacant church. Among other attempts, the cry 
was raised that he was mad; and so, often — in the 
eves of the world — is a man viewed, who has become 
an altered man like Chalmers. But this was effec- 
tually put down by the character given of him by the 
leading men of the Church of Scotland. In connexion 
with this statement, a deeply-interesting incident oc- 



REMIN'ISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS, 



27 



curred some time afterwards in Glasgow. A gentleman 
and his ladv one Sabbath o'oino- to chmx-h. met a friend, 
a medical man, who inquired where they were going. 
They rephed, To hear Dr Chalmers."' AVhat ! '* said 
he, to hear that madman?" They asked him to accom- 
pany them and hsten to a discourse from Chalmers for 
once, and if after that his opinion was unchanged, they 
would dispute the matter with him no more. He went 
— and, singular to relate, when Chalmers mounted the 
pulpit that day, he gave out as his text, ••' I am not 
mad, most noble Festus. but speak forth the words of 
truth and soberness." Such was the impression pro- 
duced by the discourse, that their friend from that day 
became a convert to evano;elical Chiistianitv. We 
consider this one of the most interesting anecdotes in 
modern biography. 

In the autumn of 1815 he published an adcbess to 
the inhabitants of the parish of Kilmany. in which he 
gave a very striking and impressive view of the results 
of his preaching during the twelve yccirs he had 
labom'ed among them. For the greater part of that 
time he had preached a high and pure morahty, but 
he had made, to use liis own words, no attempt 
ao^ainst the natural enmitv of the mind to God.''' 
Dm^ing that period he was not aware that all his 
vehemence had had the weight of a feather on the 
moral habits of his parishioners : — it was not till the 
utter alienation of the heart from God, and reconciha- 
tion to Him, became the distinct and prominent object 
of his ministerial instructions — the free offer of for- 



28 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



giyeness through the blood of Christ urged upon their 
acceptance, and the Holy Spirit given through the 
channel of Christ's mediatorship — that he ever heard 
of those moral reformations which, he was afraid, had 
been the ultimate object of his earlier ministrations. 

Thursday, 18th January 1816. — Chalmers deh- 
vered his splendid sermon, Thoughts on Universal 
Peace," in the Tron Church, Glasgow, on the day of the 
national thanksgiving for the cessation of the great 
revolutionary war, which had distracted the world for 
upwards of twenty years. His text was from Isa. ii. 
4 — Nation shall not Hft up sword against nation ; 
neither shall they learn war any more." This is a 
production which will hold its place, as a powerful 
picture of war and its horrors, beside Robert Hall's 
admirable discourse, " Reflections on War," delivered 
at Cambridge fourteen years before, on a similar public 
thanksgiving for the short piece of Amiens. 

Wednesday, 21st February 1816. — The University 
of Glasgow unanimously conferred the degree of Doctor 
of Divinity on the Rev. Thomas Chalmers, minister of 
the Tron Church. 

Friday, 17th May 1816. — At St Andrew's Church, 
Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers preached a sermon for 
the Society of the Sons of the Clergy, from Acts xx. 
35, last clause — " It is more blessed to give than to 
receive." His picture, on tliis occasion, of the deso- 
lation of a clergyman's family torn from their much- 
loved home — the hopes of the sons blasted, and " the 
daughters, yet more helpless, and ill-prepared to bear 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



29 



the scottI of an unpitying world'' — brought a tear to 
every eye, and will long be remembered by all who 
were present. He had preached the same sermon on 
a sunilar occasion in Glasgow, during the spring of the 
previous year. 

Wednesday, 22d May 1816. — ^l^^ent to the General 
Assembly at eleven forenoon. The galleries had been 
crowded from eight a.m. Succeeded, after a straggle^ 
in obtaining a place at the window opposite the throne, 
and stood a complete round of the clock, viz., from 
eleven a.m. till eleven p.m. It was the interesting 
plurality debate — whether the act of 1814, prohibiting 
pluralities, was declaratory only of an old law, or a 
new act, and consequently an infringement of what is 
called the Barrier Act. Dr Cook, the historian of the 
Scottish Reformation, spoke two hours, detailing facts 
to prove it only a declaratory act ; Dr Chalmers de- 
livered a sublime speech, in which he pathetically pic- 
tured the duties of a clergyman ; and Lord Succoth, 
the Lord President (Hope), the Lord Justice-Clerk 
(Boyle), Dr Brown of Aberdeen, James Moncreiff (the 
late Lord Moncreiff), Robert Bell, and John A. Murray 
(now Lord Murray), advocates, all spoke in the course 
of the debate. A majority of twenty-fom^ considered 
it an infringement of the Barrier Act, and ordered it 
to be remitted to the different Presbyteries of the 
Church for consideration. When Dr Chalmers spoke, 
there was the most intense silence ; the impression he 
made on the Assembly was very striking. It was on 
this occasion that Francis Jeffrev, the most distin- 



30 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



guished critic of the present age, made the remark — 
and, we beheve, it was the first time he had heard 
Chalmers — that he did not know what it was, but 
there was something altogether remarkable about that 
man ; the effects produced by his eloquence reminded 
him more of what he had read — of Cicero and Demo- 
sthenes — than anything he had ever heard. 

Towards the end of 1815, Dr Chalmers commenced 
delivering his celebrated astronomical discourses every 
Thursday, in his own church ; and the fame of these 
speedily drew crowded audiences. At the General 
Assembly in 1816, he was nominated to preach before 
the King's Commissioner ; and on 

Sabbath, 26th May 1816 — He delivered in the 
forenoon, in the High Church of Edinburgh, pro- 
bably the most magnificent display of pulpit elo- 
quence that had ever been heard in modern times. 
It was the essence of his astronomical discourses 
comprised in one. His text was from the 8th 
Psalm, 3d and 4th verses — When I consider the 
heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the 
stars which thou hast ordained- — what is man, that 
thou art mindful of him ? and the son of man that 
thou visitest him?" JSTo one who had the gratifica- 
tion of being present on that extraordinary occasion 
will probably ever forget the effect produced. We 
went on the morning of that day to the High Church 
door at a quarter past ten o'clock, and found a great 
crowd waiting to obtain access, to hear him whose 
fame as a preacher was then to reach its culminating 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



31 



point. On the doors being opened, the crush was 
tremendous. We got a seat in the body of the church, 
near the pulpit, on the right of the preacher ; and 
the impression made on the minds of the audience, 
by the grandeur of the discourse, was such, that, if 
they had not been restrained by the recollection of 
being in church, they would openly and loudly have 
expressed their approbation. We remember particu- 
larly the striking effect of the passage where he 
remarked, that if the Almighty were to sweep with 
his besom of destruction this little world of ours from 
the universe, it would scarcely be missed in the 
immensity of creation ! 

From that day, Dr Chalmers, to use his own empha- 
tic language, felt the burden of a popularity of 
stare, and pressure, and animal heat;" and multi- 
tudes were always found anxiously waiting to obtain 
admission to hear this modern Massillon. 

in the beginning of 1817, his astronomical dis- 
courses were published in an octavo volume, — their 
popularity and circulation were beyond all precedent, 
for a volume of sermons. The public were captivated 
— and from that time he might be said, as a preacher, 
to have somewhat wielded the wand of a magician ; 
but all this made no change on the meek and modest 
spirit of this truly Christian man — his popularity in 
some respects, perhaps, made him feel the more 
humble. 

Thursday, 9th January 1817. — Evening at Lady 
Glenorchy's Chapel, Edinburgh. Heard Dr Chalmers 



32 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



preach on Romans, Sd chapter, 10th verse — " There 
is none righteous, no, not one." The great pecuUarity 
of this discourse was, that, while inteUigible to the 
most ilhterate Christian, it was conducted in such a 
style of sound argument, as to be admirably calcu- 
lated for impressing the mind of a philosophical scep- 
tic. We were highly delighted with the powerful 
reasoning, forcible illustration, and awakening elo- 
quence, of the preacher. He first considered the 
proofs of the general corruption of human nature from 
the Scriptures, and again the proofs from direct ob- 
servation, winding up with strong practical illustra- 
tions. " I know not," said he, after the conclusion of 
his second head of discourse, " whether to be more 
mortified or rejoiced at the circuitous mode I have 
adopted of attaining this important truth, burdened 
with all the forms and phraseology of modern philo- 
sophy — a truth which the meanest peasant in his 
cottage has learned long before me; but it is the 
duty of the Christian teacher to adopt every mode of 
argument or illustration which may be the means of 
awakening and convincing infidelity." Dr Chalmers 
preached an hour and a quarter, and appeared tedious 
to no one of his crowded audience. 

Dr Chalmers wrote an article on the Sermons of 
Dr Jones of Edinburgh, which appeared in the Eclec- 
tic Review for September 1816. He gives Dr Jones 
liigh and' deserved praise as a clergyman of piety 
and quaint talent, and makes some original and use- 
ful remarks on the composition of sermons, and the 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



33 



faults of sermon writers — their being heavy and mono- 
tonous. 

Monday, 12th May 1817. — Copied an unpublished 
sermon by Dr Chalmers, on the 85th Psalm, 10th 
verse — Mercy and truth are met together; righteous- 
ness and peace have kissed each other." It is most 
able and eloquent — highly calculated to awaken the 
unthinking mind to a sense of religion, especially of 
the great leading doctrine of Christianity, that there 
is salvation through Christ alone. AVe have heard of 
one Socinian being converted by it. 

Dr Chalmers was at this period specially invited to 
London, to preach some of the anniversary sermons for 
the great charitable and religious institutions there. 

Wednesday, 14:th May 1817. — He preached the 
annual sermon for the London Missionary Society, on 
the twentieth anniversary, at the Surrey Chapel. 
This large place of worship was crowded to excess, 
and many could not obtain admittance. On Friday, 
Chalmers breakfasted with Wilberforce, who remarks 
in his diary — Much pleased with Chalmers's simpli- 
city ; walked and talked in the garden."* And on the 
19th, Wilberforce has another entry in his journal : — 
" All the world wild about Dr Chalmers ; he seems 
truly pious, simple, and unassuming." 

Thursday, 22d May 1817. — Dr Chalmers again 
preached to a crowded audience in the Surrey Chapel, 
in aid of the Scottish Hospital, for which he obtained 
an unprecedentedly large collection. 

* Wilberforce's Life, by his Sons, vol. It. 
C 



34 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



Sabbath, 25th May 1817. — Dr Chalmers preached 
for the Hibernian Society, at the Presbyterian Church, 
London Wall. Wilberforce's entry in his diary, on 
this occasion, was : — ''Off early with Canning, Huskis- 
son, and Lord Binning, to the Scotch Church, London 
Wall, to hear Dr Chalmers. Vast crowds — Bobus 
Smith, Lord Elgin, Harrowby, &c. So pleased with 
him, that I went again in the afternoon to the Scotch 
Church, Swallow Street, getting in at a window, with 
Lady D., over iron palisades, on a bench. Chalmers 
most awful on carnal and spiritual man. Home, tired. 
I was surprised to see how greatly Canning was af- 
fected ; at times he quite melted into tears. I should 
haye thought he had been too much hardened in de- 
bate to shew such signs of feeling." " All London," he 
was soon after told, in a very different circle from his 
own, " has heard of your climbing in at that window." 
With the healthful play of a vigorous mind, he en- 
tered readily into the joke. I was surveying the 
breach with a cautious and inquiring eye, when Lady 
D. — no shrimp, you must observe — entered boldly 
before me, and proved that it was practicable." The 
story generally related is, that Canning was disap- 
pointed when he first saw (what seemed to him) the 
vulgar appearance of the orator, and heard his pro- 
vincial accent ; but the tears were soon seen rolling 
down his cheeks, and he remarked, The Scotsman 
beats us all." What a eulogium from one who was 
himself the accomplished " statesman, poet, orator, and 
wit!" This was, indeed, the triumph of piety and 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



35 



genius. In some respects, the tribute was as great 
from Lord Castlereagh, on hearing Chalmers at this 
time. He — cold and phlegmatic, though familiar with 
•all kinds of parliamentary eloquence — observed, that 
he had never in his life heard anything that moved 
him so much as the harangue of that Scotch boor ! 
It was on the occasion of this London visit, that the 
journalists of the day remarked, they had met with 
the Duke of Sussex and other branches of the royal 
family, Lords Eldon, Castlereagh, and others, whom 
they " were not accustomed to elbow at a place of 
public worship," waiting for admission. 

Sabbath, 15th June 1817. — It became known at 
Moffat that Dr Chalmers was at the neighbouring 
church of Kirkpatrick-Juxta in the forenoon^ and a 
deputation was sent, urging him to preach at Moffat 
in the afternoon, which he kindly agreed to do, though 
fatigued and jaded with the bustle and turmoil of his 
London visit, and his journey homeward, of which this 
was one of the last stages. 

Sabbath, 29th June 1817.— Forenoon at Tron 
church, Glasgow. Dr Chalmers preached on Colos- 
sians, 4th chapter, 1st verse— " Masters, give unto 
your servants that which is just and equal, know- 
ing that ye also have a Master in heaven." In his 
discourse, he shewed that religious motives lead to 
this duty, and will actually make us better perform it 
than the mere worldly sanction of the liberal age in 
which we live. He took occasion to comment on the 
disastrous system of speculation which had recently 



36 



REMINISCENCES OF DE CHALMERS. 



affected this commercial community, proving that, 
even by this, we might be undutiful to our servants 
and dependants, by ruining them ; and he observed, 
that if this system continued to be acted on, we could 
expect nothing but a recurrence of alternate currents of 
prosperity and adversity. He made some enhghtened 
observations on the commercial crisis, which, he said, 
might give his argument a secular air and tone. After 
finishing his discourse, he announced the commence- 
ment of congregational examinations — the sitters of 
one gallery to meet him on the ensuing Friday, having 
previously studied the three first chapters of the 
Acts of the Apostles ; and concluded with the startling 
statement, that he had been pestered with a great 
many httie gilded billets coming to him, and he had 
to request some cessation of this, as, with his numer- 
ous other duties, he really had not time to reply to 
them. It may easily be imagined that, at this period 
of his great popularity, the society of such a man 
would be so much courted, as to render it impossible, in 
the midst of his various important avocations, to com- 
ply with the invitations poured in upon him. • 

In the evening, at Tron Church, Glasgow, Dr 
Chalmers preached the same sermon he delivered 
in the forenoon. We understood his reason for re- 
peating the discourse was, that his evening sermons 
are meant for the poor, or those who cannot get out 
through the day ; and he thus prevents the attend- 
ance of the higher classes who have heard him in 
the forenoon. One would be apt to think that he 



EEMINISCENCBS OF DP. CHALMERS. 



37 



would lose by this arrangement his own interest in 
the sermon. Chalmers is an extraordinary and bril- 
liant genius : he has many characteristics in common 
with Pascal. 

Saturday, 30th August 1817. — Dr Chalmers's 
pamphlet on the Influence of Bible Societies on the 
Temporal iSTecessities of the Poor" published. It 
abounds with his usual powerful reasoning and ori- 
ginal and forcible illustration. 

Wednesday, 19th November 1817. — Dr Chalmers 
preached a sermon in his own church at Glasgow, 
being the day of Princess Charlotte's funeral. It 
was hurriedly written, but is a complete display of 
his natural powers — applied not in mere rhetorical 
descant, but to practical objects — and of his masterly 
and bold untrammelled mind. We would apply the 
words of our great poet Shakspere to tliis illustrious 
man — Take him for all in all, we ne'er shall look 
upon his like again." There are in a note to this 
sermon some burning observations upon party feeling 
in politics, and pointing out that a clergyman should 
never prostitute the functions of his sacred office to 
mere secular political partisanship. 

At this comparatively early period of his life, he 
promulgated, in the appendix to this sermon, the 
germs of his future enlarged and enlightened views 
on national education, church-extension, and the terri- 
torial system for schools and churches. Dr Robert 
Buchanan, at a meeting of the Presbytery of Glas- 
gow, recently observed, with great force — When Dr 



38 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



Chalmers preached his famous Princess Charlotte ser- 
mon, and sounded an alarm in the ears of one of the 
largest and most influential audiences ever assembled 
in Glasgow, its population was considerably less than 
150,000 — it now verges on 400,000 ; " and, urging them 
to provide for the religious instruction of this increased 
population, he added, I know of nothing that will do 
but the scheme which Knox devised at the Reforma- 
tion, and Chalmers laboured to restore in our own 
day — churches and schools on the parochial or terri- 
torial system. If it needed Duffs, and Andersons, and 
Nesbits to cope with the heathenism of Bengal, it needs 
men of a like stature to cope with the heathenism of 
Glasgow." 

Wednesday, 2UJi December 1817. — Went with 
, some friends, among whom was David Welsh,* to St 
Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh. This church was 
chosen as the theatre of many of Dr Chalmers's public 
appearances, being the largest in Edinburgh — accom- 
modating upwards of three thousand people. To our 
surprise every seat was occupied, and the passages 
almost filled, to hear this celebrated orator. The 
service commenced at one o'clock. Mr David Dickson, 
minister of the church, offered up the prayer, and Dr 
Chalmers preached on Matthew, 7th chapter, 3d, 4th, 
and 5th verses — And why beholdest thou the mote 
that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the 

beam that is in thine own eve ? Or how wilt thou sav 

»/ «> 

* Afterwards Professor of Cliurch History, and Moderator of the 
(jeneral Assembly at the Dismption. 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



39 



to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine 
eye ; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye ? Thou 
hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye. 
and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out 
of thy brother's eye;" — a striking and remarkable 
discourse, in which the preacher made many forcible 
and original observations, calculated to dispel common 
errors and prejudices in religion. He instituted a 
parallel between the errors of Papists and the errors 
of Protestants, abounding with original and useful 
ideas. Roman Catholics, he observed, are said to con- 
sider the Pope as infallible, but do we never commit 
similar errors? Have we no private theologians and 
divines, whose authority we consider quite decisive and 
by whom we abide more than by the Bible ? If we do, 
are we not equally guilty ? They are accused of wor- 
shipping the saints ; but do not many Christians almost 
worship their favourite saints or ministers ? When he 
came upon the subject of the charity he was advoca- 
ting — the Society for educating the Irish — ^he pro- 
ceeded to draw a powerful picture of the Irish cha- 
racter. He said the Irish had frankness written on 
their very foreheads. He considered them peculiarly 
fit to second our efforts, and to become enlightened in 
religion, instead of being kept in darkness. Educate 
them, he observed, and this was the most generous 
way of quelling those civil tumults we had often wit- 
nessed in their country and in their streets, and this 
the way to make them freemen and brethren. The 
discourse displayed his usual remarkable and fervid 



40 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



eloquence — that eloquence and originality of illus- 
tration which raised him to be the most remarkable 
preacher that has perhaps ever appeared since the 
days of our primitive Christian teachers. There was 
a crowd of nearly four thousand people present ; the 
collection amounted to £184. 

Thursday, 16th April 1818.— Dr Chalmers wrote 
the following letter to Mr Andrew Mitchell, Duniface, 
near Kennoway, the surviving brother of his early 
friend, Wilham Mitchell :— I received a few days 
ago the melancholy intimation of your father's decease, 
and was forcibly reminded by it of a truth, which we 
are miserably apt to forget in the hurry of this world's 
business, that we live in the land of dying men. It is 
my prayer that the death of one so near to you may 
leave a serious and salutary impression on yourself and 
the other members of your family. It were well if we 
were beginning now to make up our accounts for our 
great and coming change. ' Be ye also ready,' is a 
precept incumbent upon us at all times; and the 
experience of every day brings home the argument 
alleged for the precept, that ' we know not at what 
hour our call cometh.' 

" The season which follows a bereavement so affect- 
ing as that under which you suffer, should be favour- 
able to the good work of faith and of repentance. The 
heedless majority of this world little think of the truths 
which flash upon us from the Bible— that we must be 
born again — that, if the preaching of the cross is fool- 
ishness to us, we shall perish — that, if we neglect the 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



41 



great salvation of the gospel, we shall not escape — 
that we shall be judged according to the deeds done 
in the body — and must all shortly appear before the 
judgment-seat of Christ. Let me earnestly press these 
considerations upon you. The longer they are post- 
poned, the more is the soul hardened in its resistance 
to them ; and it will be grievous indeed if we shall be 
found to have remained in our state of nature, in oppo- 
sition to all the invitations of grace, and to all the 
warnings of Divine providence. Offer my kind remem- 
brances to the Misses Mitchell ; and beheve me, my dear 
sir, yours most truly, Thomas Chalmers." 

Tuesday, 2d June 1818. — Dr Chalmers preached 
at St Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh, on behalf of the 
Moravian Missions, from 1st Corinthians, 14th chap- 
ter, 22d, 23d, 24th, and 25th verses. This discourse 
was pregnant with original matter and observation, 
although not abounding with so many brilliant pas- 
sages as many of his other public appearances. He 
preached nearly an hour and a half. Had to stand 
the whole time, the church being so crowded. 

Monday, 20th May 1818. — In Blackwood's Maga- 
zine of this month appeared a letter addressed to Dr 
Chalmers, which seems to savour of the sarcastic and 
pohshed pen of Lockhart,* whose account of Dr 
Chalmers, in Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk, was 
one of the happiest that had appeared. He sets out 
by seeking to satirise Chalmers for writing in the 

* John Gibson Lockhart, Esq., the accomplished editor of the Quarterly 
Revieiv. 



42 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



Edinburgh Review, but ends in his praise. He thus 
addresses him : You have overcome many disadvan- 
tages, and achieved many triumphs : your enemies are 
few, and the nature of the reproaches which they pour 
out against you betrays very distinctly the meanness 
and envy from which they are sprung. Your friends 
are numerous : all of them admire your genius as an 
author, and venerate your zeal as a clergyman ; and not 
a few of them add to all this a sincere and ardent love 
of the simplicity and the kindness which form the best 
ornaments of your character in private life. Your 
reception in the world is such as might spoil a mind 
less pure and dignified than yours : you have been 
extolled by every one of your eminent contemporaries 
who has had occasion to hear you preach. You have 
overcome the cold dignity of Lord Castlereagh and 
the reluctant scepticism of Mr Jeffrey with equal ease : 
and you have taken a station in the eye of your coun- 
try above what is, or has lately been, occupied by 
any clergyman either of the English or Scottish 
Church. From all that I have either heard or read of 
your discourses in the pulpit, if there is one thing more 
than any other, characteristic of you as a preacher, 
it is the zeal with which you are never weary of telling 
your audience, that Christianity should exert an in- 
tense and pervading influence, not only over their 
solemn acts of devotion, but over their minds, even 
when most engaged with the business and the recrea- 
tions wherein the greater part of every life must of 
necessity be spent. True religion, according to the 



REMINISCE^'CES OF DR CHALMERS. 



43 



doctrine wbich you support with such persuasive and 
commanding eloquence, is not the dark svbil of some 
Pvthian celL consulted onlv on oToat emero-encies. 
surrounded with mysterious vapours, and giving utter- 
ance to enigmatical responses : she is, or ought to be, 
the calm and smiling attendant of all our steps — the 
tutelary angel of all our wishes and hopes — the confi- 
dential friend and guarcban, whose presence lends to 
pleasure its greatest charm, whose absence or coldness 
would be sufficient to throw a damp over every exer- 
tion, and to chill the very fountain of all our enjoy- 
ment. TVe should remember, the faith we possess is 
not a thing to be worn like a gala garment, and laid 
aside at pleasure. In one of your late pubhcations, 
you caution vour readers ao^ainst blamino; too much 
the papistical submission to creeds, councils, and 
fathers, while they themselves are, in all probabihty, 
the equally unquestioning disciples of some less vene- 
rable authorities. In one eloquent passage, you even 
advance and maintain, with no ordinary ^'igom\. the 
principle, that the extended influence of om^ rehgion 
would of itself be sufficient to remove all those evils 
of pauperism and poor's rates which at present oc- 
cupy so much of the attention of the British Legisla- 
ture." — These passages are eloquent, and would seem 
to indicate a just appreciation of the character of 
Chalmers. 

From the time he went to Glasgow, Dr Chalmers 
bad embarked keenly, and with indefatigable ardour, 
in plans for the improvement of the education of the 



44 



KEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



poor, and endeavoured to assimilate his city parish as 
much as circumstances would permit to a country 
parish. The population numbered upwards of ten 
thousand. He attempted to visit all the families, and 
make their personal acquaintance — knowing well the 
important effects of kindness between a minister and 
his people. He was received by them with the utmost 
cordiality, and he afterwards congregated them in dis- 
trict meetings. He established local Sabbath-schools 
instead of general ones, which he deemed compara- 
tively ineffective. His duty, as one of the ministers of 
Glasgow, in the management or directorship of many 
of the public charities, he found so very detrimental to 
his moral and religious usefulness, being beset by ap- 
plicants for secular patronage, that he withdrew from 
the management of the pauperism of the parish, and 
devoted himself as much as possible to the spiritual 
interests of the people, with an earnestness and kind- 
liness that will long be remembered in Glasgow. He 
was wont, with his irresistible bonhomie, to say, that 
the present to which he attached most value of any he 
ever received, was a covj-heel from an auld wife in the 
Sautmarket of Glasgow — a locality which was com- 
prised in his Tron Kirk parish. 

Friday, 26thFebruary 1819. — Dr Chalmers publish- 
ed a volume of discourses, entitled Sermons preached 
in the Tron Church, Glasgow." They were meant as a 
parting legacy to the members of the congregation, 
which he was about to leave for a new church in Glas- 
gow; and he dedicated the volume to them, with a lively 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



45 



feeling of all the kindness which he had experienced 
during the time of his connexion with them, and the 
assurance of his affectionate desire for their best inter- 
ests. He stated in his prefatory remarks, that the doc- 
trine which he had most urgently and most frequently 
insisted on, was that of the deprayity of human nature, 
and that it were certainly cruel to expose the unwor- 
thiness of man for the single object of disturbing him; 
but the cruelty is turned into kindness, when, along 
with the knowledge of the disease, there is offered an 
adequate and all-powerful remedy." 

On Sabbath, 30th May 1819— Dr Chalmers deh- 
vered his farewell sermon to the Tron Church congre- 
gation of Glasgow. In the course of the pre^dous year, 
the Magistrates and Town-Council had resolved to con- 
stitute a new parish in their city. While minister of 
the Tron Church, Dr Chalmers had to encounter a yast 
mass of prejudice in promulgating his large and en- 
hghtened yiews on the subject of pauperism ; and when 
he was offered the charge of the new parish, though 
the population was nearly as large as that of the Tron, 
and the church itself larger, he was induced to accept 
the appointment, chiefly with the yiew of obtaining a 
fair and open field for the exemplification of those pa- 
rochial and territorial plans which he deemed of such 
mighty importance to the moral and religious, as well 
as economic, welfare of the country. Parishioners 
were to haye a preference for seats in the church ; 
and the minister and kirk-session were to haye the 
exclusive management of the poor of the parish, who 



46 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



were to be supported by the local contributions. In 
Glasgow, the church-door collections were intrusted 
to a body called the General Session, who re-distri- 
buted them to each parish in the proportions required; 
and the compulsory assessment for the poor of the city 
went to the Town's Hospital, or Charity Workhouse. 
Dr Chalmers got rid of this compUcated and cumbrous 
machinery, and, with a numerous staff of deacons, 
assumed the management of the poor of his own 
parish. We cannot, in a work like this, go into the 
interesting minutiae of the beautiful process he ar- 
ranged for the economic and spiritual welfare of this 
new parish of St John's ; but we recommend those 
who feel anxious to become acquainted with the de- 
tails, to peruse Dr Hanna's excellent Memoirs of Dr 
Chalmers, 

Thursday, ScZ June 1819. — Dr Chalmers was ad- 
mitted minister of the New Church and parish of 
St John's, Glasgow. 

Monday, 26th July 1819. — Dr Chalmers preached 
in St Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh, in aid of the 
funds of the Deaf and Dumb Institution. His sermon 
was on the following passages : — Matthew, 15th chap- 
ter, 32d verse; John, 6th chapter, 24th, 25th, and 
26th verses ; and Matthew, 12th chapter, 15th verse. 
The collection amounted to upwards of a hundred 
guineas. 

The same day that Dr Chalmers preached this ser- 
mon, his old literary antagonist. Professor Playfair, 
was buried in the Acropolis of the modern Athens ; and 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



47 



a few days thereafter, Dr Chalmers was strenuously 
urged by the most leading and influential men in 
Edinburgh to become a candidate for the chair of Na- 
tural Philosophy, vacant by Playfair's death — and with 
every prospect of obtaining the appointment. When 
this chair was proposed to him, with the inviting 
accompaniment of literary ease — which carried many 
a prospective charm to a man hke him, then oppressed 
with harassing work, and engaged in combating the 
prejudices of the Glasgow oflicials, or dimder heads,'' 
as he sometimes humorously styled them — he was 
anxiously endeavouring to complete the arrangements 
for having his new parish managed according to his 
own plans ; and from the outset of the proposition, he 
expressly stated, that if he succeeded in obtaining 
from the Magistrates a sanction to his arrangements 
for St John's parish, nothing would induce him to 
leave it. This he accomplished ; and it was one of 
the curious coincidences of this affair, that Professor 
Leslie, his old rival for the Edinburgh Mathematical 
professorship in 1805, on Dr Chalmers's name being 
withdrawn, was appointed to the Natural Philosophy 
chair in the University of Edinburgh. 

Thursday, 26th August 1819. — Dr Chalmers preach- 
ed his first sermon as minister of the New Church of 
St John's, Glasgow, on Isaiah, 29th chapter, 9th, 10th, 
11th, and 12th verses, to a crowded audience, and he 
commenced his philanthropic and rehgious labours in 
that parish with the utmost ardour and activity. 

Thursday, 28th September 1819. — Dr Chalmers 



48 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHAL]VIERS. 



published the first number of a work entitled " The 
Christian and Civic Economy of Large Towns." 

The work — though, from the circumstance of being 
written and published in a series of numbers, it is 
rather diffuse, and interspersed with a most intolerable 
quantity of foot-notes, very trying to the patience of 
the reader — abounds with expansive views and much 
valuable matter regarding the poor-laws, and other 
branches of Christian economics. On the subject of 
church patronage, even in those his earlier days, he 
remarks with great emphasis, — " We should like, even 
for the cause of public tranquilhty and good order, that 
there were a more respectful accommodation to the 
popular taste in Christianity, than the dominant spirit 
of ecclesiastical patronage in our day is disposed to 
render it. We conceive the two main ingredients of 
this taste to be, in the first place, that esteem which 
is felt by human nature for what is behoved to be reli- 
gious honesty ; and, in the second place, the appetite 
of human nature — when made in any degree ahve to 
a sense of its spiritual wants — for that true and scrip- 
tural ministration which alone can relieve them." 

At the close of this year, 1819, Dr Chalmers pub- 
hshed a pamphlet entitled Considerations on the 
Svstem of Parochial Schools in Scotland, and on the 
Advantage of establishing them in Large Towns." At 
the present period of our country's history, when the 
educational question has become almost the most im- 
portant one of the day, those whose mterest has 
been awakened regarding it will find much valuable 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 49 

matter in this production. He observes — ''The truth 
is, that there is a very wide distinction between the 
moral or intellectual wants of our nature, on the one 
hand, and the merely physical wants of our nature, on 
the other. In the latter case, the want is always ac- 
companied with a strong and urgent desire for relief ; 
and, just in proportion to the greatness of the want, is 
the intensity of the desire. The want of food is ac- 
companied with hunger, and the want of liquids with 
thirst, and the want of raiment with cold ; and these 
form so many powerful appetites of demand, which, 
among a people, though left to ^themselves, will be 
fully commensurate to the whole extent of their phy- 
sical necessities. And hence it is, that whatever call 
may exist for a national establishment of teachers — a 
national establishment of bakers, or butchers, or tailors, 
or shoemakers, is altogether superfluous." Could the 
general argument for a national system of education be 
better or more briefly stated ? And a little further on 
he says — '' If an uneducated people be more formidable 
in their discontent, and more loathsome in their profli- 
gacy, and more improvident in their economical habits, 
and more hardened in all the ways of wickedness and 
impious profanation, than a people possessed of the 
Bible, and capable of using it, then we cannot look on 
the progress of that decay in scholarship, which is every 
day becoming more conspicuous in our towns, without 
inferring a commensurate progress in those various 
elements of mischief which go to feed and to augment 
all our moral and all our political disorders." 

D 



50 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS, 



Truly we may say with Burke, Education is the 
cneap defence of nations !" Chalmers here, as he did 
at the later and latest periods of his life, advocates 
the cause nobly, — though, with the characteristic mo- 
desty of a great mind, he said he was only groping 
his way;" and let us hope that the period is fast 
approaching when our statesmen will perceive that 
the true economics of a nation is not to build bride- 
wells, prisons, and penitentiaries, but to educate the 
people. 

Sabbath, 2d April 1820. — Dr Thomas Brown, the 
acute and accomph^ied Professor of Moral Philosophy 
in the University of Edinburgh, died— and Dr Chal- 
mers was urged to become a candidate for the chair^ 
but he declined being brought forward. 

Friday, 19th May 1820. — Dr Chalmers published 
a sermon on " The Importance of Civil Government to 
Society, and the Duty of Christians in regard to it." 
It had excited a good deal of public attention, having 
been delivered at the period of the Cato Street conspi- 
racy, and during a season of great political alarm in 
the west of Scotland. He remarks, — It is thus that 
the impiety of our upper classes now glares upon us from 
the people with a still darker reflection of impiety back 
again ; and that, in the general mind of our country, 
there is a suppressed but brooding storm, the first ele- 
ments of which were injected by the men who now 
tremble the most under the dread of its coming vio- 
lence. It is the decay of vital godliness amongst us 
that has brought on this great moral distemper." 



REMmSCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



61 



Sabbath, 16th July 1820. — Forenoon, at St John's 
Church, Glasgow. Dr Chahners preached, or rather 
lectured, on Rom. iv. 9 to 15 inclusive. Evening, at 
St John's Church, Glasgow. Dr Chalmers preached 
from Rom. 3d chapter, 20th verse to the end : on our 
acceptance being through the merits of the Saviour 
alone — ^that we can never boast of our good works, 
and that to boast of faith would be ec{ually unsound. 
As well, said he, might a man endowed with sight boast 
of seeing the sun, as a Christian boast of his faith. In 
Dr Chalmers's forenoon discourse he discussed what 
was to be said for and against infant baptism, and con- 
cluded with a powerful statement of the duties parents 
take upon them when they present their children for 
baptism. He then finished with some pathetic rem^arks 
on the almost certainty of children — infants — at death 
being removed to heaven. 

Saturday, 11th November 1820. — Dr Chalmers's 
volume of discourses published. They are entitled — 

The Application of Christianity to the Commercial 
and Ordinary Affairs of Life." We beheve that, his- 
torically speaking, they made a profound sensation in 
Glasgow, and produced great and beneficial effects. 
Among many anecdotes that might be related regard- 
ing them, we had one of the deepest interest commu- 
nicated to us dii^ect from the individual to whom it re- 
ferred. He was a youth from the country, engaged as 
a salesman in a commercial establishment in Glasgow. 
A system then prevailed of the young men being in- 
structed to demand a higher rate for their goods from 



52 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



intending purchasers than the price at which they 
were allowed to sell them. A wrangling ensued be- 
tween the parties, and the most determined combatant 
gained the victory. After hearing these discourses, in 
which the preacher exposed many of the prevalent 
peccadilloes of traders, this young man was so struck 
with the immorality of the practice, that his con- 
science would not allow him to continue in the esta- 
blishment. He threw up his situation, and was cast 
on the wide world, at a loss what to follow. He soon 
after got the offer of capital to begin business; and 
from that day everything flourished with him. He 
established the practice of selling his goods at fixed 
prices, from which he never deviated ; and he has 
now become one of the merchant princes of Glasgow 
— one of the landed aristocracy of Scotland — ready 
and willing at all times to contribute his hundreds and 
thousands of pounds when any great or useful scheme 
of Christian philanthropy requires his aid. We know 
not a better or more beautiful illustration of the pro- 
mise, that to the upright light shall arise." 

Such was the indefatigable activity of Dr Chalmers, 
— who, when almost borne down at this time by the 
weight and anxiety of his parochial labours in St 
John's parish, was still working out his wider philan- 
thropic plans, and giving them to the world in his 

Christian and Civic Economy of Large Towns," in a 
series of detached numbers — ^the pressure on his time 
having become so great that he was laid under the 
necessity of adopting this form of publication. In this 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



53 



work will be found the germ or nucleus of those 
enlarged views which are probably destined, in the 
course of providence, not only to work out the moral 
reformation of large towns, but to spread over the 
Christian world. 

Sabbath, 20th May 1821. — Afternoon, Dr Chahners 
preached at the Chapel of Ease, Leith Wynd, Edin- 
burgh, on Romans, 5th chapter, 10th verse — For if, 
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by 
the death of his Son : much more, being reconciled, 
we shall be saved by his life." An immense crowd 
present. His sermon was on the kindness and mercy 
of God if we forsake sin, and how apt we are to har- 
den when continuing in it — how even the malefactor 
in his dungeon thus sometimes refuses the offer of 
pardoning mercy. 

Thursday, 24th May 1821. — At the General As- 
sembly Dr Chalmers deUvered an energetic speech, 
introducing an overture regarding the admission and 
attendance of students at the divinity halls. There 
were six hundred and eighty-four theological students 
entered at the different universities in Scotland last 
winter session. 

Sabbath, 21th May 1821. — Forenoon, at IS'orth 
Leith Church, Dr Chalmers preached on Colossians, 
1st chapter, 12th verse — Giving thanks unto the 
Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the 
inheritance of the saints in light." The object of the 
discourse was to shew that there must be a personal 
meetness or fitness for heaven before we can be pre- 



54 



KEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



pared for a better state of existence : this the preacher 
contrasted with a judicial meetness, on which he was 
afraid many professing Christians rehed too much. 
He remarked that heaven would be no heaven to us 
if we have not a taste for its enjoyments — that, there- 
fore, an unholy mind is not fit for heaven, and that we 
must be sanctified by faith in order to be prepared 
for that better country. To shew that judicial meet- 
ness would not of itself do, he instanced a man who 
was endowed with a bad and violent temper, which 
had led him to commit some outrage on the peace of 
society, for which he was sent to prison: on being 
liberated, the fear of a repetition of the punishment 
might keep him from again committing the offence, but 
his bad temper, the hell within him, might remain as 
much unmortified as ever. The ransom does not save 
him from the miseries of his own temper — it continues 
to corrode in the brooding chambers of his own heart, 
lie remarked that a great many people supposed hell 
to consist merely of corporeal punishment, and that it 
is the fire, and the brimstone, and the flame, of which 
they are afraid ; and he observed, that we have reason 
to believe that there is bodily punishment in hell, and 
that therefore there is mainly and essentially there 
both an arbitrary and inherent punishment. The 
malignant and revengeful feelings he considered as the 
principal elements of hell — to be saved, therefore, 
we must be sanctified. He asked us to look at the 
horrors of an ill-regulated jail — at the mutual rage 
and revilings of its inhabitants — their cursing and 



I 

I 

REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 55 

blasphemies — their debaucheries and unhallowed de- 
sires : only stamp upon these creatures immortality, 
and you have hell ! Liberate them, and, until they 
are changed, they carry hell along with them — they 
have it in their own bosoms. Even take the example 
of a family — how the infliction of moral pain, by its 
members, one upon another, may turn it into a hell ! 
The unhappy beings of this world have chosen for 
themselves, for eternity, the miserable employment of 
feeding upon ashes. He went on to say that a forensic 
deed of justification is not enough — it may cover a 
sinner on his way^ — it may guide him to the gate of 
the City that has foundations ; but if he were there, 
there would be no happiness for him — even if he could 
have his person imported into heaven, he would im- 
port also a portion of the miseries of hell along with 
it, if unsanctified in his nature. Dr Chalmers then 
said he would conclude with two practical observations : 
— first, to those who had trenched themselves about 
with all the securities of a powerful Antinomianism, 
the meaning of which term he took for granted all 
knew — (but he should have explained it to his audience, 
as probably many present understood it not). Ortho- 
doxy, he said, he was afraid, often carried a deadening 
and withering influence along with it : its professors, 
he feared, often thought that they had pocketed a 
deed of justification, and went securely away with it ; 
wliile all the service that they rendered was attending 
the sacrament, paying an observance to the Sabbath, 
and giving a fractional part of their substance to the 



56 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



poor, whilst on all the other days of the week the 
world was their god. " But know, ye hearers ! " said the 
eloquent preacher, whose persons are to be seen every 
day in church, that hell would be the place you would 
prefer if there were no fire and flame — if you could 
have your shops, and your snug per-centages, and 
your parties of pleasure. It is the mere shrinking of 
animal nature that makes you wish to shun hell ; in 
short, you do not want really to be saved." The 
second observation consists of a few directions to those 
who are really earnest in their desire, who are really 
wilhng to be saved : " And I ask you all to enter upon 
this great moral transition that I have alluded to, at 
this moment of your personal histories — to seek to pre- 
pare the well-going machinery of a well-cultivated soul. 
If there is music in heaven, it will be the music of well- 
poised affections : the happiness of heaven is not given in 
payment for doing the work, but is a reward for liking 
the work. To guard against mistakes, I conclude by 
remarking, that faith is the only mode of conveyancing 
that can be adopted for receiving eternal happiness." 

Afternoon, at Canongate Church, Dr Chalmers 
preached on Isaiah, 29th chapter, 12th verse — " And 
the book is delivered to him that is not learned, say- 
ing, Read this, I pray thee ; and he saith, I am not 
learned." He began by saying, that the gospel was 
to many a piece of imioenetrahle mysticism ; and he 
added, there was not a weapon in the whole armoury 
of human learning by which a person could force an 
entrance into the kingdom of heaven. He went on to 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 57 

shew, that, with regard to understanding the Bible, 
the lettered and the unlettered man were on the same 
terms. He compared them to two men sleeping — the 
one lettered, and the other ignorant. He said, These 
two men may not hear me tell them that they are on 
the brink of destruction : but nevertheless it is true ; 
and of what use is the learning of the one to him 
here ? Unless you awaken him, it cannot save him." 
And he argued, that, in the same way, the lettered and 
the unlettered man are on the same terms with regard 
to the Bible. Unless you first awaken them, thev 
cannot understand it, becciuse they are sleeping — 
''Awake, thou that sleepestT' He then went on to 
adduce a few convincing proofs that the majority of 
men are sleeping. First, " Talk to them of an event on 
this side of time, and one on the other side of it greater, 
and you will see which engrosses and excites their 
attention. If you see a man subjected to the disgrace 
and disagreeableness of bankruptcy — one who is en- 
gaged in the same path of speculation with yourself — 
and you are informed that yourself, and all who are 
in it, must share the same fate, how speedily would 
you leave it ! But have not you every day the same 
sort of ivarning as to eternity, by the death of your 
neighbour or your friend ? and yet how speedily are 
these neglected and forgotten ! You can go and look 
at his corpse, decked out in all the shrouded pale- 
ness of the coffin. You can lift up the covering off the 
face, and look at his pale and death-like features ; and 
in two days more the bells ring, and you can follow 



58 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



him to the grave, and see the dust returned to the dust 
whence it came, and come away, and forget all the 
warning. ' Awake, thou that sleepest, and Christ shall 
give thee light.' " Dr Chalmers then proceeded to 
inquire how it was that even those who are awakened 
so often and so soon go to sleep again. He gave us 
his theory: ''Suppose," said he, ''that I am so en- 
dowed, that when I awake in the morning, I can, 
by a mere volition of my own, cast myself to sleep 
again. If I find that I awake only to misery, it is 
natural that I should do so — and he supposed this to 
be the case with the most of those who are awakened 
to religious impressions, but speedily return to their 
old habits; and he argued powerfully, that hence it 
is that every sermon that is preached may very pro- 
perly treat of the great salvation of the New Testa- 
ment dispensation. 

Nearly two thousand people were in the church 
hearing this most eloquent and rousing discourse. The 
heat was so overpowering, that some of the audience 
broke a few panes of the windows to obtain a breath 
of fresh air. 

Thursday, 5th July 1821. — Dr Chalmers preached 
at St Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh, for the benefit 
of the local Sabbath-schools, on Ecclesiastes, 4th 
chapter, 13th verse — " Better is a poor and a wise 
child, than an old and foolish king, who will no more 
be admonished." He had an impressive discourse on 
the advantages of Education — the superiority of mind 
over matter ; and remarked, that by mental knowledge 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



59 



the most obscure layman may be made greater than a 
king ; and what a vast quantity of spirit hes imbedded, 
nnwrought, in the multitudes of ignorant and unedu- 
cated human beings whom we meet on the streets! 
How pleasing to the philanthropist to know that he 
may here rear a more solid increment of value than 
what worldly riches can produce! Commerce may 
ebb and flow, may flom^ish and fall back, but this 
never can decay. He remarked that there are sensible 
symptoms of the spread of knowledge, and that the 
strongest rampart of a government is now seen to bo 
the information and education of the people; that 
equality among men — -not the equality of external 
rank which pohtical bhndness has sometimes wished, 
but an equahty in mental information — is now about 
to be accomphshed. He further remarked, that if 
there were any who now heard him, who had ever 
carried on that kindly intercourse with the poor 
which has such a charm, he would appeal to them, if 
they would not feel much disappointed indeed, if he 
who was the best Christian had not also, in the very 
aspect and economy of his household, and the order 
of his well-conditioned family, reahsed the promise 
even of the present life. But then, when you pro- 
ceed to examine his mind, you will find that he has trea- 
sures greater than the unconverted monarch, who soon 
descends to the grave — the ghost of departed great- 
ness! A man who begins to educate the forlorn and 
ignorant of the land — the masses of practical heathen- 
ism that are to be found in a country — may be said to 



60 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



be dealing in embryo with a great and extensive 
empire. If a man shews himself a Christian friend to 
fifty families, it cannot be said that he has lived or 
laboured in vain. To do good, people must descend 
from universals to particulars. How little did phi- 
losophy advance when she dealt only in the universals 
of the schoolmen ! It was by the division of labour 
that her interests were advanced. In like manner, 
to do good, Christians must descend into particulars. 

Dr Chalmers had an audience of nearly three thou- 
sand people to hear this discourse, which was hstened 
to with intense interest. 

Sabbath, 19th May 1822. — Heard Dr Chalmers 
in the forenoon at St Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh. 
His text, 2 Peter, 3d chapter, 13th verse — "New 
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth right- 
eousness." He began by saying that a mistaken 
idea seems to prevail regarding heaven, and that this 
earth would be utterly destroyed. He thinks differ- 
ently: he thinks that hereafter we may tread on as 
compact an earth as now, and wear as material and 
earth-like bodies. The second part of this splendid 
discourse, after having shewn wherein the new heavens 
and the old heavens, the new earth and the old earth, 
will be alike, was on wherein they will differ. This 
world is the abode of rebellion, but the new will be the 
abode of righteousness : it will be a paradise, but not 
a paradise of sensuality — not a substitution of mind for 
matter, but a substitution of righteousness for sin. 
And this, he observed, gives us to understand what we 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



61 



have to do in the way of preparation, — we have just 
to open the doors of our hearts for the influx of 
Heaven's righteousness. Christ was our great ex- 
ample — all Heaven's virtues were infused into His cor- 
poreal frame. The mam reward of heaven is spiritual 
joy springing from a well-regulated mind. In heaven 
they do not work to fulfil the conditions of a bargain. 
Tou must serve God because vou love Him, and not 
for mere wao^es : the mere leo'al arrano-ement is com- 
pleted by your accepting of Christ's righteousness. 
Then you serve Him through the Spirit of God con- 
veyed to you, and not for the love of the wages you 
are to obtain. His explanation of this was clear and 
beautiful. He then said, ^' A good man feels as seraphs 
feel when they look on the glories of the Most High." 
This might not at first be understood by his general 
audience, but they would understand it by tliinking of 
the change that would take place even in this world, if 
all the malevolent and angry feelings were discarded, 
and had no place. He then took notice of two delu- 
sions that are apt to obtain, — the first, an illusion that 
regards heaven in a mere poetical point of view, as 
full of material grandeur and beauty. It may have 
abundance of material splendour and beauty, but these 
are only the accompaniments, and not the substantial 
blessings, of heaven. The second is a theological delu- 
sion, which is apt to regard heaven as attainable by 
mere faith, without being accompanied by works — a 
sturdy sort of Antinomianism, which may ruin many a 
professor of religion. 



62 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



Afternoon, Dr Chalmers at St George's Church, 
Edinburgh: text, 1 John, 2d chapter, 15th verse— 
" Love not the world, neither the things that are in the 
world." He observed that there are just two ways of 
stripping the heart of undue love of the world— either 
to shew the vanity of it, or exchange its affections to 
another object, namely, to God. Man must have some- 
thing to engage his affections. Take from him love of 
the world, and give him nothing m its place, and you 
leave him in a state of most unnatural abandonment. 
You would make him then feel as people sometimes do 
who have retired from business, or an officer who has left 
his employment. The ascendant power of a second af- 
fection will accomplish what a full sense of the worthless- 
ness of the first would never do. Substitute another 
desire in place of the first — perhaps you cannot at once 
destroy the first, but you may dispossess it — ^like a 
wealthy citizen who has given up the pursuit of gain, 
who engages in the whirl of city politics, and comes to 
be lorded over by the love of power. The human mind 
must have something to lay hold of — it cannot exist a 
solitary unit in dark and unpeopled nothingness. It 
is thus that ennui is a much more common disease in 
the French metropolis, where the people are frivolous 
and pursue mere amusement, than it is in the British 
metropolis, where politics and other serious pursuits 
engage their minds. To have an utter tastelessness for 
enjoyment, to have an affection for nothing, is the 
acme of human suffering—is suffering far greater 
than actual pain. And it is thus that in those asylums 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



63 



for minds disordered, it is not the raving maniac whom 
you most pity, but the person who has a tastelessness 
for all enjoyment. To be alive to nothing but con- 
sciousness of existence is most distressing. Nature 
abhors a vacuum ; so does the human mind : to bring 
to it the mastery of another affection seems to be the 
only engine capable of dispossessing an old one. One 
learns best to know the short arithmetic of human hfe 
on the Sabbath; but then the morrow comes and drives 
away, with its pursuits, the recollection, and prevents 
the preaching of the gospel being mighty to the pulling 
down of strongholds. The great charm of the effectual 
preaching of the gospel hes in this, that it brings an- 
other affection to bear on the human mind. Many a 
preacher has not the power of graphically sketching 
and dehneating the vanity of the world and shewing 
its worthlessness, but still he may be effectually preach- 
ing the gospel. 

The crowd at St George's Church this afternoon 
was immense. 

Friday, 2Uh May 1822.— Dr Chalmers delivered 
a speech in the General Assembly of the Church of 
Scotland, explanatory of the measures which had been 
successfully pursued in St John's parish, Glasgow, for 
the extinction of its compulsory pauperism. At the 
close of this address he said, the legislature of our 
empire are now standing hopeless and aghast at the 
sight of that sore leprosy, the poor laws, which hath 
spread itself over the ten thousand parishes of England. 

Sabbath, 26th May 1822.— Afternoon, at St Cuth- 



64 



REMINISCENCES OP DR CHALMERS. 



bert's Chapel of Ease, Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers 
preached to an overflowing audience from Romans, 
14th chapter, 5th verse, last clause — " Let every man 
be fully persuaded in his own mind." He observed 
that Christianity may, by a stern and uncompromis- 
ing Puritanism, be stripped altogether of the kind 
and benignant aspect that she really wears ; and in 
seeking to make a convert of a young man, instead 
of at once trying to take him wholly away from the 
amusements of the world, you should rather seek to 
shew him the spiritual nakedness of his own heart 
— ^its alienation from God. Charge him not with 
going to the theatre or the ballroom, but with being 
an outcast from God. Let the change take place 
spontaneously, of his own mind ; if otherwise, his case 
may be like the parable of the wine in the leathern 
bottles of old, and, in a fit of explosive impatience, 
he will throw off the yoke that seems to bind him. 
Shew Christianity to him, not with the scowl of 
monkery, nor in the grim and ghastly spirit of a 
bigoted Puritanism. Take away from the theatrical 
representations, all their blasphemy and immorality 
— from the gambling-table, all the heated frenzy and 
undue love of money — from your evening parties, 
gossip, the venom of calumny, — and I am not sure if 
Christianity can object to them, except that they are 
still mere varieties of earthliness. The amusements 
of the world are not the acts, but the insignia, of 
rebellion. There was much wisdom in the answer of 
the person to a conscientious young man, who asked 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



65 



him if he might go to the theatre. He rephed, Go 
as often as your conscience will allow you, but no 
longer — that is, till you feel your affections no longer 
inclined for it. There must be a preparation of man 
for heayen — he must be fitted for its enjoyments 
before he can partake of them." 

How different from the productions of ordinary 
preachers is this ! Instead of the driyellings of a 
drone or a commonplace character, you feel it is a 
man of genius and power addressing you, and that 
with an emphasis and a style to which you are not 
accustomed — that, withal, it is a practical man who 
speaks, in the language of common sense, and inspires 
an ardent desire to hye in future a holier and a better 
hfe. 

Dr Chalmers was repeatedly, during the height of 
his popularity, offered a church in Edinburgh ; but 
he had no inchnation to remoye from Glasgow to any 
other ministerial charge. He had long been con- 
yinced that superintending the studies of young men 
destined for the ministry was the higher sphere of 
usefulness ; and on the Moral Philosophy chau^ at St 
Andrews becoming yacant by the death of Dr Craw- 
ford, he at once agreed to accept the appointment, 
and was accordingly, on 18th January 1823, unani- 
mously elected. This eyent made a great sensation 
in Glasgow. It was no wonder that the metropoHs of 
the west of Scotland was unwilling to part with such 
a man — one who had shed so much lustre oyer that 
commercial city. Two days after his appointment, 

E 



66 



REMINISCBNCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



he addressed a letter to the heads of his congrega- 
tion, detaihng his reasons for accepting the proffered 
chair. The first he assigned was one of necessity — 
the preservation of his health — wiiich was giving 
way under his manifold exertions. The second, he 
called a reason of conscience, and said — It so 
happens of me, that my attention of late has been 
divided between the cares of my profession and the 
studies of general philanthropy ; and, vmile sensible 
of the rebuke to which this might expose me from 
those whose piety and Christian excellence are entitled 
to veneration, yet I can affirm, of every excursion that 
I have recently made in the fields of civic and econo- 
mic speculation, that I have the happiness of him who 
condemneth not himself in that which he hath allowed. 
I can truly say, that when I entered on this field, it 
was not because I knowingly turned me away from 
the object of Christian usefulness, but because 1 appre- 
hended that I there saw the object before me ; but the 
field has widened as I have advanced upon it, in so 
much that I cannot longer retain the office which I 
now hold, without injustice to my parish and congre- 
gation — without, in fact, becoming substantially, and to 
all intents and purposes, a plm^alist. ..... In these 

circumstances, I have been met, and most unexpectedly, 
with the unanimous invitation of a college, within 
whose waUs I can enjoy the retirement that I love, 
and again unbosom myself among the fondest remem- 
brances of my boyhood. It was there that I passed 
through the course of my own academical studies, and 



EEMmSCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



67 



that I am now called upon to direct the studies of an- 
other generation. Some of you have long known 
what I think of the great worth and importance of a 
professorship, and that I have even held a literary 
office in a university, through which the future mini- 
sters of our parishes pass in numerous succession 
every year, to be a higher station in the vineyard 
even of Christian usefulness than the office of a single 
minister of a single congregation. Moral philosophy 
is not theology, but it stands at the entrance of it, 
and so, of all human sciences, is the most capable of 
being turned into an instrument either for guiding 
aright, or for most grievously perverting, the minds of 
those who are to be the religious instructors of the 
succeeding age." * 

Wednesday, 22d January 1823. — In consequence 
of this letter, a meeting of the elders, deacons, and 
Sabbath-school teachers of St John's parish was held, 
when the following resolutions were agreed to — resolu- 
tions very beautiful and affectionate in their character 
and tone, and reflecting the highest credit on the 
excellent men who had aided Dr Chalmers in his ex- 
tensive and arduous labours of love in Glasgow : — 

" That this meeting, from the terms of Dr Chalmers's 
letter now laid before them, perceive that his accep- 
tance of the vacant chair in the University of St An- 

* We liave only liere given a portion of tliis letter of Dr Chalmers^ so 
ably justifying the cliange he was about to make. Those who wish to 
see it at full lengthy will find it in the Scotsman newspaper of 1st Feb- 
ruary 1823, or in Dr Hanna's Memoirs of the Life and Writings of 
Br Chalmers. 



68 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



drews is absolute — that it is not in any respect con- 
ditional, or suspended upon any circumstance what- 
ever ; if it had, they would have done everything in 
their power to induce Dr Chalmers to continue his 
charge of the parish. In such circumstances, they 
would have pleaded with him their peculiarly harmo- 
nious intercourse, the strong and unquestioned attach- 
ment of the members of his congregation to him, the 
increasing affection of his parishioners, the great 
sphere of Christian usefulness open to him in this city, 
and, through his pulpit ministrations and pubhshed 
discourses there, opened up to very many corners of 
the Christian world. Further, they would have pleaded 
the infancy of his plans in the parish for promoting the 
education of all classes, and for originating, quickening, 
and spreading moral and religious habits amongst the 
people. And, lastly, they might have stated, but with 
humbleness of mind, that, as their past services under 
Dr Chalmers have been most willingly rendered to 
the extent required, their services in future would 
have been equally so, or might have been still further 
extended- — as they have acted under the impulse of 
devotion in heart and mind to aid their worthy pastor 
in the furtherance of his great designs for the advan- 
tage of his fellow-mortals. 

" That it would ill accord with the deep-seated affec- 
tion and respect which all the members of this meeting 
entertain for Dr Chalmers, to question, or for a mo- 
ment to doubt, that his reasons for resigning the charge 
of this parish do appear to his mind to be in every re- 



REmNnSCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



69 



spect satisfactory and good. With one of these reasons 
this meeting do in a particular manner feel the deepest 
sympathy. They allude to the dehcate state of Dr 
Chalmers's health, which, in their judgment, is a reason 
calculated to silence every objection; for, highly as 
they would prize the continuance of Dr Chalmers in 
his present charge, they are still more sensible of the 
benefits which he may be made the means of con- 
ferring on the Christian world and society at large, if 
his health is preserved to continue his labours for pro- 
moting the spiritual and eternal interests of mankind. 

The members of this meeting would acknowledge 
the hand of the Almighty in having sent Dr Chalmers 
to this corner of His vineyard, and having permitted 
him for a time to labour there, and to be the instru- 
ment of so much moral and spiritual improvement. 
They had hoped he would be continued amongst them 
for a longer period, to confirm the good impressions 
which he has been the means of making, and to see 
still more clearly the work of the Lord prospering in 
this place. But such has not been the will of the Dis- 
poser of all events, to which this meeting would bow 
with Christian resignation, assuring Dr Chalmers, that 
wherever he goes, and however he may be occupied, 
they will not cease to think of him with affection, and 
to offer up on his behalf their earnest supplications at 
the throne of grace for all needful strength, and every 
good and perfect gift. In conclusion, and as regards 
the proceedings of the members of this meeting in the 
parish — all present declare their utmost willmgness 



70 



REMINISCE^'CES OF DR CHALMERS. 



cordially to continue united with Dr Chalmers in all 
his labours so long as he remains here ; but as regards 
future procedure, they would desire to commit them- 
selves to God for hght and strength in the difficult situ- 
ation in which they may then be placed, praying that 
such plans as He sees right to favour may be upheld 
and perfected — that what is amiss or wanting in them, 
as agents feebly attempting to promote His glory, He 
will supply — and that in due time they may be blessed 
with another pastor, who, possessing like talents and 
zeal, may become, like Dr Chalmers, the Christian 
friend and Christian instructor, so that in the end all 
thmgs may work together for good, and the eternal 
salvation of manv souls.'' 

Thomas Chalmers and Robert Hall were the two 
greatest pulpit orators in Britam in the nineteenth 
century. They were brothers in genius, though each 
was greatest in his own sphere. In composition, 
Chalmers was sid generis — not to be imitated — 
whereas Hall was a perfect model as a writer of the 
English language. It may be interesting to our 
readers to learn what was the impression received by 
one who heard for the first time Chalmers's grccit 
contemporary. The extract here given is as noted in 
our private diary : — 

Sahhath, ISth May 1823. — " Went, soon after ten 
o'clock, to the Rev. Robert Hall's chapel at Leicester, 
to hear this eloquent and powerful individual — the 
object of our visit to Leicester. A hymn from 
Isaac Watts' collection was suno^ ; and then Mr Hall — 



KEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



71 



apparently a man about fifty-five years of age, of 
plain appearance and uninteresting physiognomy — 
entered the pulpit. He offered up an excellent prayer. 
One impressive sentence in it was, ' that civil and reli- 
gious liberty might take root, and flourish in every 
country under the canopy of heaven.' The sermon was 
of an ordinary nature, seemingly quite extemporary ; 
but the ideas and language flowed with the greatest 
readiness and ease. His voice was rather feeble, and 
the discourse was calculated to disappoint one who was 
aware of Hcill's great genius and talent. The subject 
was the generalities of practical religion ; and he com- 
pared grace to the unfinished bud, whereas glory was 
the ripe and perfect flower. He preached about forty- 
five minutes. His chapel is of a moderate size, and the 
audience appeared highly respectable. Met with Mr 
Combe, an intimate acquaintance of Kobert Hall's, with 
whom we had a good deal of conversation regarding 
Hall and Chalmers. We afterwards went to hear Mr 
Hall's evening sermxon. The chapel was crowded. His 
discourse was one of a series of sermons he has com- 
menced in reply to the Unitarians. The subject was 
extremely interesting, and still more so from hearing 
him handle it. The special topic was, ' What is 
Christ ? ' He proceeded to shew that, from the direct 
language and phraseology of Scripture, we cannot 
hesitate to admit that he is ' God.' The argument 
was conducted with great clearness, eloquence, and 
force. Mr Combe offered to introduce us to Mr Hall, 
if we could remain till Monday; but, though to meet 



72 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



with him was a great inducement, especially as he was 
known to be even more powerful in conversation than 
in the pulpit, we had to proceed to Windermere, to 
visit another eminent literary character — Professor 
Wilson." 

Saturday, 6th Sept. 1823. — Had a conversation 
with Dr Chalmers. The literary men discussed were 
Robert Hall of Leicester, John Foster, the author of 
the EssaySy and Edward Irving. On remarking that 
Edward Irving had a mathematical head, Dr Chalmers 
observed, in his emphatic style — " Ay, sir ; and I can 
assure you a mathematical head is a good head." Dr 
Chalmers's accent, even in conversation, is strongly 
Fifan, 

Sabbath, 9th Nov, 1823. — A deeply interesting 
scene occurred on Dr Chalmers preaching liis fare- 
well discourse at Glasgow. It is thus graphically 
presented by the journals of the day. It shews how 
entirely he engaged the affections of the people, and 
that they only require to be treated with kindness 
and philanthropy to insure their affection and re- 
gard : — ''This distinguished and highly-respected 
divine preached what is usually denominated a fare- 
well sermon, in St John's Church, Glasgow ; and in the 
afternoon he took leave of the congregation of St John's 
Chapel of Ease. The interest which the reverend 
Doctor has excited ever since he came to Glasgow 
has been without parallel; but on no occasion was 
anxiety so great, on the part of his usual hearers and 
the public, to be present, as at his farewell sermon. 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 73 

The doors were opened nearly two hours before the 
service began ; and although the elders and deacons, 
assisted by a number of police officers, did everything 
in their power to render the admission as easy and 
comfortable as possible, yet it was with difficulty that 
order could be preserved. A number of the elders 
and deacons took their station at the door, while the 
beadle and the door-keepers stood on the steps, to 
point out the regular sitters. This plan completely 
succeeded till the church was about three-fourths full, 
when the crowd became so great — M'Farlane Street 
being half filled — that it required such exertions to 
keep order as we never before witnessed. Some in- 
considerate person opened one of the side doors from 
the vestibule of the church, when hundreds rushed in, 
to the great danger of their lives. At this moment, a 
gentleman in the crowd, who thought lives must be 
lost, ran to the adjoining barracks, and brought some 
soldiers to assist in keeping back the crowd ; but be- 
fore the arrival of the soldiers the church was full : 
happily, no accident occurred. To accommodate the 
public as much as possible, chairs and forms were 
placed near the pulpit, for the accommodation of two 
hundred persons, who were admitted by tickets; so 
that there must have been nearly three thousand per- 
sons in the church. At a quarter past eleven o'clock, 
Dr Chalmers appeared in the pulpit, and, though 
much oppressed by his feelings, he went through the 
services of the day in his usual splendid and mas- 
terly style. The text, from which he preached a most 



74 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



eloquent sermon, was appropriate, being the 5th and 
6th verses of the 137th Psalm- — ' If I forget thee, 0 
Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If 
I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the 
roof of my mouth ; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my 
chief joy.' It is not our intention to follow this emi- 
nent man through his discourse : it must have made a 
deep impression on the minds of all who heard it. He 
cautioned his hearers to beware of being too much 
attached to the popularity of any man, but to search 
their hearts and see whether they had received a flame 
from Heaven, or a spark from man. He then stated, 
that he might be allowed to think that the hearers 
who had attended his pulpit ministrations for the period 
he had been in Glasgow- — nearly eight years — were at 
least convinced that he was in earnest in his belief of 
the importance of the doctrines which he taught. He 
knew that his imperfections on numerous occasions 
were past summing up ; but he thought they would 
beheve that he considered the least of their concerns 
which regarded the things of eternity, as of far more 
importance than the greatest of this world's cares. 
The appointment he had accepted to a professorship in 
St Andrews might be considered as a dereliction of 
duty and a disregard to the concerns of the ministry. 
When this charge came from the tongue of calumny, it 
was not worthy of notice or observation; but if a shock 
had been given to the faithful and upright feelings of the 
soul of any -of his hearers, and when it was thus the 
sorrow of honest principle and offended grief, it would 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



75 



be shameful and unchristian to treat this feehng T^dth 
neglect. This was not the place, however, for discuss- 
ing these topics. He would make averment in the 
presence of God, that the church and all its concerns 
were as valuable to him as ever, and would still con- 
tinue to be dear to his recollections ; for, when compared 
to its importance, all human science and learning was 
but mere childishness. He then described the import- 
ance of the office which he was now about to fill, it being- 
one of the fountain-heads to the ministry, and his duty 
being now to act as a guardian and a teacher of the 
elementary principles of religion ; but, should Jesus 
Christ and His holy religion ever be forgot by him, 
then he wished, in the words of his text, ' that his 
right hand might forget her cunning/ There were 
many topics on which he would not so much as dare to 
enter, and which must be confined to the ponderings of 
his own heart. iS'ever would he forget the princely 
and munificent assistance he had received from the 
enlightened and patriotic magistracy of this great and 
populous city, in the furtherance of all his plans for the 
amelioration of the condition of the poor. Is ever would 
he forget the labours of that devoted band who had so 
kindly assisted him in all his ' labours of love,' and 
to a continuance of whose exertions he still looked for- 
ward with dehght. i^ever would he forget the indul- 
gence, friendly countenance, and noble generosity 
which he had received from all by whom he was 
surrounded on every side ; and, although he might not 
have been able to pay that attention and regard to 



76 EEMINISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 

those tokens of kindness with which he had been inva- 
riably met, from the multiphcity of business, and being 
jaded with over-exertion, still the remembrance of their 
kind looks and good-will would never cease to warm 
his heart and secure his affection for every one of the 
flock which he was leaving behind. He concluded by 
entreating his hearers often to peruse the 5th chapter 
of Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians, as con- 
taining all the principles of Christian obedience. The 
usual services of the forenoon being ended, Dr Chal- 
mers intimated that Mr Edward Irving, minister of the 
Caledonian Chapel, London, who was then in the 
church, would finish the whole with prayer. Dr Chal- 
mers then retired, and Mr Irving having gone up to 
the pulpit, after saying a few words respecting the 
important services in which they had been engaged, 
thought it would be proper for the congregation to in- 
voke the Divine blessing on the head of that man who 
had spent so many years among them, but who was 
now about to retire from his charge. Mr Irving then 
put up a most impressive prayer on behalf of Dr Chal- 
mers and the congregation, and finished the whole by 
singing the 29th Psalm. The collection amounted to 
upwards of £134 ; and it would have been much more, 
had it not been for the extreme pressure, which pre- 
vented many from contributing. The collection was 
for one of Dr Chalmers's parochial schools. 

In the afternoon, the crowd at St John's Chapel of 
Ease was equally great. As a proof of the difficulty of 
keeping order on such occasions, although the military 



REMINISCEXCES OF BR CHALMERS. 



77 



were on the spot before the doors were opened, it was 
ultimately found necessary to admit all as they came. 
Dr Chalmers preached from Hebrews, 3d chapter, 
13th verse — But exhort one another daily, while it 
is called to-day, lest any of you be hardened through 
the deceitfulness of sin.' The collection was above 
£35." 

Tuesday, 11th November 1823. — A public dinner 
was given to Dr Chalmers in the Assembly Rooms, as 
a mark of especial regard, on his leaving Glasgow. 
The hall was found not large enough to contain the 
whole company who assembled on this occasion, and a 
number of gentlemen were accommodated in a side- 
room, and afterwards admitted into the hall. At five 
o'clock, the Lord Provost of Glasgow entered, attended 
by Henry Monteith, Esq. of Carstairs, M.P., John 
Maxwell, Esq., M.P., Dr Chalmers, Dr M'Gill, Dr 
Dewar, and several others. The Lord Provost said, 
he was happy to have that opportunity, as chief ma- 
gistrate of the city, to bear testimony to the great 
benefits which Glasgow had derived from Dr Chalmers's 
talents and exertions, his usefulness as a minister, and 
his example as a man. He need not expatiate on the 
great abilities of their reverend friend, particularly to 
those who had so often and so latelv heard liim use 
the best of eloquence in the first of causes. He might 
speak of the effects of his exertions to raise a part of 
the people from the vice and poverty into wliich they 
had fallen. He called upon them to return him their 



78 REMINISCENCES OF DE CHALMERS. 

warmest thanks for the time he had stopped among 
them — as he was now about to retire to the scenes of 
his youth, where he hoped he would enjoy all the 
blessings, comforts, and repose, to which he was so 
well entitled. The health and happiness of Dr Chal- 
mers was then proposed. 

Dr Chalmers replied — My Lord Provost, I can 
truly say I never felt more at a loss to acquit myself, 
than for the overwhelming honour you have laid upon 
me. I am quite aware that this, or something like 
this, is expected, and that the customary preface calls 
for the complimentary reply ; but this expression of 
kindness with which my name has been mentioned and 
received by the company, to one so unworthy of it, 
goes beyond all my anticipations — overpowers all the 
most grateful feelings of my heart ; and I trust you 
will all hear me with indulgence, when you consider 
the substantial difficulties in which I am placed — when 
it is considered that I am the prime and voluntary 
mover in this separation — that with my own hand I 
have inflicted the stroke which severs us, after having 
received such kindness at your hands. The step which 
I have taken, I was apprehensive, however satisfactory 
to myself were the motives, would appear to you to 
assume an aspect of ungraciousness ; but when I see 
all this flood of kindness reflected back again upon me, 
I may be said to have inflicted a double shock in re- 
turn. There is one assurance that I claim your indul- 
gence in making. It is, that in leaving my office here, 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 79 

it was not a change of local situation, but a change of 
life, which I deemed essential to my usefulness in the 
world; and I here declare before you all, without 
hesitation, that I would not have given up the parish 
of St John's, and the conoTeo;ation of which I was 
pastor, for any m Scotland, i^o, gentlemen; it was 
not a change of situation I wanted — it was a change 
which would relieve me from all further draughts on 
my drooping strength, and at the same time retain 
me in a course associated with all mv feehno's and 
condition ; and I declare to you that there is no other 
consideration, nothing on earth, that could have torn 
me away from the ministry of St John's. The parish 
with which I was connected necessarily introduced me 
into the humbler walks of life, and I have had but 
little communication with the upper ranks of society ; 
but the frequent and famihar intercourse which I 
have for years had among my parisliioners has been 
a source of great consolation to me, and ]Droduced to 
me many acts of luxurious intercourse with the poor, 
and led to that intimate acquaintance with the realities 
of human life and manners which I never could other- 
wise have obtained ; and nothing would be so flattering 
to my feelings, as if good has been produced from it. 
And yet, notwithstanding the little intercourse I have 
had with the upper ranks of society, I am almost over- 
powered when I witness the manner in wliich they 
have come forward on this occasion. The situation of 
a clergyman is altogether one of a pecuhar nature ; — 



i 



80 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



the honours and privileges of this world are nothing 
to him — he is a man of no rank, and yet he is loved 
and respected by all — one day he may be the welcome 
visitant of the proudest palace in the land, and on the 
next he may be found pursuing his sacred functions 
under the roof of the lowliest cottage. A clergyman 
is a sort of nondescript in heraldry, but absolutely 
essential to the well-being of society, and for the 
healthful state of the body-pohtic. The greatest good 
results to mankind from this mixed character : in his 
ampliibious character he stands as it were in the gap 
between the patrician and plebeian, and contributes to 
the peace and comfort of society. The exertions of 
the magistracy to advance the interests of rehgion 
and promote the education of the poor, have been such 
as to reflect the highest lustre on them, and have 
exceeded, rather than equalled, those of any other 
magistrates in our land, in this walk of patriotism. 
Previous to my coming to Glasgow, I heard a great 
deal about burgh administration; and, like many 
other general impressions, the system was represented 
through the country as being all jobbing, and intrigue, 
and worthlessness. But I am sure I speak the sense 
and experience of all present, and have them with me, 
when I affirm, that I am completely at antipodes with 
such a representation as applicable to the municipahty 
of Glasgow. From the moment I entered on my 
ministerial functions, I got the same kind attentions I 
have always experienced ; and from the first moment 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



81 



I entered the walls of a church court, I have endea- 
voured to do my duty fearlessly and openly. Gentle- 
men, as an expression of the debt of gratitude I owe 
to you all, and particularly to our civic rulers, I pro- 
pose the health of the Lord Provost and Magistrates 
of Glasgow. 

Mr James Ewing said, that whatever might be the 
opinion entertained of the step which Dr Chalmers 
had adopted, there could be but one sentiment as to 
this — that he had been actuated by the purest sense 
of duty and the strictest principles of conscience. 
Glasgow had indeed lost an ornament, and the parish 
had lost a treasure — but he hoped the people would 
not despair. A spirit had been excited which he 
trusted would neither evaporate nor cool. The great 
moral mechanism of the able agency remained unim- 
paired, and he hoped another master-spring would 
soon be found to direct its movements. The materiel, 
the disciphne, the ardour of the corps, were still un- 
broken ; and he hoped another general would soon be 
appointed to lead them on in their great march of 
Christian philanthropy. He proposed The Religious 
Institutions of St John's." 

Mr Parker returned thanks in the name of the 
parishioners of St John's. With regard to the pa- 
rochial institutions of Dr Chalmers, he would not 
detain them with a detailed statement- — ^they had 
schools in which about six hundred males and one 
hundred and twenty-five females were reaping the 

F 



82 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



benefits of instruction. They had all seen what this 
great man had done — he had taken his stand against 
the vices and profligacy of the age, and the greatest 
benefits had followed. 

Mr Maxwell, M.P., said, it had been observed by a 
gentleman who was treading in the footsteps of Dr 
Chalmers, that it was by promoting the religious in- 
struction of the people that loyalty and right feelings 
were encouraged and maintained; and, while they 
supported religious institutions, they discharged an 
important duty to the country, and a solemn obliga- 
tion to God. He proposed The University of St 
Andrews." 

Dr Chalmers said — My Lord, I cannot hear my 
name associated with the new functions on which I am 
about to enter, without saying a few words on the va- 
lue and importance of the ministry. I love the minis- 
try ; I consider it as the most elevated profession on 
earth. I have not words adequate to describe the 
works of a Christian minister, and the important duties 
he has to perform. Before we can fully appreciate his 
labours, we must feel the worth of an immortal soul, — 
we must compute the arithmetic of our days, and cal- 
culate how swiftly they will go over us, and the death 
and the judgment that must inevitably follow. The 
professor pours instruction into the embryo minister 
of the next generation, and the light he leaves behind 
him will be illuminating the atmosphere of their minds 
when he is sleeping in the dust — and children unborn 



REmNISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. S3 

may reap the benefit of his labours. I shall take care 
that the lessons in Greek and Hebrew be found to har- 
monise with scriptural theology, and to pour the influ- 
ence of the gospel over them, and ward off every dele- 
terious mixture of infidehty which might affect the 
very fountain-head. From a recent visit to the Uni- 
versity of St Andrews, I am happy to state, that the 
increase of students is threefold, and we have all the 
glory of our most ancient recollections associated with 
our modern prosperity. The other universities have 
only got before us by mingling our days with others 
that are past ; but I confidently look forward to her 
permanent grandeur, and that our university will soon 
be as distinguished as any of her rivals. As you have 
given the University of St Andrews, I propose her 
younger sister, the University of Glasgow." 
Dr M'Gill returned thanks. 

The Lord Provost then intimated that Dr Chal- 
mers proposed to retire, and he hoped the company 
would indicate their respect for their venerable 
guest by rising, and standing in silence till he left 
the room. 

Dr Chalmers said, he would not attempt to give ut- 
terance to what he felt; for, although he should attempt 
it, he could not give utterance to a thousandth part of 
the emotions he felt at the time. Their kindness, and 
the impression it had made, would remain indehbly 
stamped upon him till his latest breath. He then, 
along with the Lord Provost and other friends, retired. 



84 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



The number of gentlemen present exceeded three 
hundred. 

Wednesday, 12th November 1823. — Dr Chalmers 
left Glasgow accompanied by his friends, Mr Ewing, 
Mr Dennistoun, Mr Parker, and Mr Dalgleish, prepa- 
ratory to his installation as Professor of Moral Philo- 
sophy at St Andrews. 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



85 



PART III. 
1823-1828. 

Professor of iloral Philosophy, St Andrews, 

Friday, 14:th November 1823. — Dr Chalmers, accom- 
panied by his friends in three carriages, entered St 
Andrews ; and soon afterwards, Dr NicoU, the Prin- 
cipal of the University, waited on the party ; and at 
one o'clock the ceremony of installing Dr Chalmers 
into the chair of Moral Philosophy, in the United 
College of St Andrews and St Leonard, took place in 
the Common Hall. The principals and professors of 
that College and of St Mary's, with the whole students 
in their gowns, were present, and a number of specta- 
tors attended. Principal NicoU presided, and con- 
ducted the business of the day in a dignified and 
impressive manner. The procedure was in Latin; 
and, after the usual formalities were observed, the 
Principal addressed the meeting in English, dehcately 
comphmenting the University on their new associate, 
and expressing his sense of the great benefits he anti- 
cipated from such an accession. In the evening a large 
party was entertained by the Principal in his own 



86 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



house, which was originally built for Queen Margaret, 
and afterwards occupied by John Knox. 

Saturday y 15th November 1823. — Dr Chalmers 
delivered his inaugural lecture as Professor of Moral 
Philosophy, in the Parliament Hall. A very general 
interest had been previously excited, and a numerous 
audience attended. An application for admission had 
been made by the ladies, but, after a learned consulta- 
tion, it was reluctantly decided that their presence 
was equally unacademic and unprecedented. Dr 
Chalmers proceeded with his discourse after a short 
prayer; and the stillness which prevailed was only 
interrupted by plaudits, which even the strict forms of 
the learned body were insufficient to repress. The 
delivery was in his accustomed style of energy, and 
the audience appeared to be frequently electrified with 
his bursts of eloquence and powers of illustration. The 
leading point of the discourse was, that moral philo- 
sophy had hitherto been discussed more as the philo- 
sophy of mind than the philosophy of duty, and his 
attention would be chiefly directed to the last. The 
concluding sentences of the lecture were to the follow- 
ing effect : — At present I will expatiate no more, save 
to deliver one short tribute of grateful acknowledg- 
ment to that ahna mater with whom are linked my 
fondest associations — who hath been pleased to recall, 
from a long and fatiguing wander, one of the un- 
worthiest of her sons — to whom, at the moment when 
he was on the eve of sinking under a pressure by 
which he was wellnigh overborne, she opened the gate 



f 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



87 



of welcome, and found for him a retreat and a resting- 
place within her walls. I never thought that on this 
side of time I should have been permitted to roam 
in arbours so desirable, and that, thus embowered 
among my most dehcious recollections, I should have 
realized, in living and actual history, the imagery of 
other days — that the play-fellows of my youth should 
thus become the associates of my manhood — or that 
the light-hearted companions of a season that has long 
passed away, should, by the movements of a mysteri- 
ous, but I trust kind, Providence, stand side by side 
as colleagues in the work of presiding over the studies 
of another generation." 

In the afternoon, Dr Chalmers's friends who had 
accompanied liim from Glasgow entertained the mem- 
bers of the University, the clergy, and several gen- 
tlemen of the city and neighboui'hood. The ut- 
most harmony and cordiality prevailed, and nothing 
could exceed the kind and affectionate attention with 
wMch this distinguished individual was received at St 
Andrews.* 

In the Moral Philosophy chair of St Andrews, Dr 
Chalmers imparted a very different character to the 
course from the mere worldly cast which it too gene- 
rally assumes in our universities. While there, he 
also delivered a separate course of lectures on political 
economv. 

The celebrated Dr Thomas Brown had long promised 
to his students a similar adjunct to his moral philosophy 

* Vide Scotsman newspaper of 19th November 1823. 



88 



EBMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS, 



course at the University of Edinburgh, but never ac- 
comphshed it. When we had the gratification of 
attending his splendid lectures, we remember asking 
him when he would bring forward his promised 
course on political economy, and his answer was, that 
this always reminded him of Miss Edgeworth's tale of 
To-morrow — the day that never comes. Dr Chal- 
mers, by his indefatigable activity of mind, overcame 
the vis inertice to which literary men are very apt to 
be subject, and produced a valuable course on this 
science at St Andrews. 

Friday, 2Lst May 1824.— Went to St Cuthbert's 
Church, Edinburgh, soon after noon, to hear Dr Chal- 
mers preach for the Scottish Missionary Society. His 
text was Acts, 13th chapter, 40th and 41st verses — 
Beware therefore, lest that come upon you which is 
spoken of in the prophets : Behold, ye despisers, and 
wonder, and perish ; for I work a work in your days, 
a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man 
declare it unto you." He began by saying, that if a 
new school of philosophy were to set out on an enter- 
prise to a remote and barbarous island, and were there 
to succeed in humanising and civilising the inhabitants, 
and bringing them to their faith, what a homage it 
would be considered to the truth and power of that 
faith, and how our universities and academies would 
vie in heaping honours and degrees on these philoso- 
phers! Now," said he, this enterprise was actually 
undertaken, and succeeded — with this difference, that 
it was a few simple missionaries who carried it into 



REMINISCENCES OF DPw CHALMERS. 



89 



execution, and that the gospel was their creed. But 
various are the arguments that have been opposed to 
this enterprise by a disdainful world. By many men 
of a firm and secular understanding it is decried. They 
think that the cry and fashion of the thing will soon 
cease — that people vrill wonder for a while at the un- 
usual wares in which they deal — but that still it is only 
a fantastic crusade. Let me state two things : first, 
the certain fitness of the Bible for the object in view; 
and, second, the great efficacy of prayer, and humble 
dependence upon God, in order to succeed. Philoso- 
phy is apt to distrust prayer ; and it is easy to see how 
science and its scholarship has led to this. The certain 
and invariable order and reo'ularitv of evervthins: is 
learned from science ; and prayer is thus apt to be 
scoffed at by blind men, who cannot perceive how a 
sjjecial providence may be made by God to harmonise 
with the regularity of the universe. In the days of 
Puritanism, the Augustan age of Christianity in Eng- 
land, there was much of prayer ; but there was the 
want of missionary enterprise. Xow, the want of one 
or other of these two has caused all the delay in pro- 
pagating the gospel. It was the observation of the 
old missionary Elhot, that it was in the power of pains 
and prayer to do anything. AYe have shewn how 
easy it is to pass from the extreme of philosophy to 
the extreme of impiety, and nature be reduced to no 
better than a blind fatalism." The eloquent preacher 
then concluded with one practical observation to those 
who despise these enterprises, by saying, that they 



90 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



who cared not for the Hindoos — who wished them to be 
let alone — -had the same wish with regard to them- 
selves. They wished not to be meddled with — they 
wished no change to take place on themselves. But 
he reminded them with great force that the day 
would come when they would be struck, not with the 
wonder of curiosity, but with all the amazement of 
terror ! 

We were much pleased, and we hope benefited, 
with this interesting and valuable discourse. 

Early in the year 1823, Dr Macfarlan, Principal of 
the University of Glasgow, was presented by the Crown 
to the charge of the High Church of that city. Dr 
M'Gill, Dr Chalmers, and others, resisted this settle- 
ment before the Presbytery, as it was obviously a 
most improper union of offices. Dr Burns said, he 
did not call in question the right of the Crown to 
present to the church; still, it could only present a 
qualified person, He could go any length in commend- 
ation of Dr Macfarlan personally. He moved that 
the Presbytery consider Dr Macfarlan an unqualified 
person, and that this decision be transmitted to the 
Crown officer, in order that a new presentation be made 
out. Dr Chalmers said, he could not, by his vote, give 
countenance to such an association of offices. It would 
be relinquishing their importance. They ought to treat 
the principalship as a situation of the greatest honour 
and labour, and not as a sinecure. They should re- 
member in what a countless number of ways the prin- 
cipal could direct the studies of the university, and he 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



91 



ought to obtain time for his own hterary pursuits, 
Dr Burns's motion was carried by a majority, and Dr 
Macfarlan appealed to the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr, 
the superior ecclesiastical court; before which, in Oc- 
tober of that year, the case came again under discus- 
sion. After Dr M'Gill had spoken at great length, Dr 
Chalmers — in a speech which is historically valuable as 
shewing, that at this early period, liis yiews on the ad- 
ministration of patronage, and regarding the intrusion 
of unacceptable ministers, were identically the same as 
those which he practically acted on at a much later 
period — said, there are some who think that there 
is nothing for it but to succumb under the fancied 
omnipotence of the law of patronage. Our Goyernment 
lately took a right turn, and shewed its hberahty and 
good- will to the cause of religion, by ordering the erec- 
tion of a number of churches in the sister kingdom. 
This spirit was caught by our cities, and churches be- 
gan to spring up in the midst of our most neglected 
population. The General Assembly also allowed her- 
seh' to be floated on the current of public opinion, and 
smiled benignantly on the glorious efforts of Christian 
philanthropy. This was a work which could not be 
done in a day; but there was an arithmetical certainty 
that, at the rate at which it was proceeding, it would be 
accomphshed in the days of our children. This pre- 
sentation lays a cruel interdict on all these delightful 
anticipations. It is a royal presentation, and so much 
the worse. I care not by how small a portion the duties 
of the principal add to the duties of the minister. The 



92 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS 



population are again thrown adrift. It is now years 
since the Presbytery remonstrated with the magis- 
trates on this subject of church accommodation, but the 
population has still got a-head. If we agree to this 
presentation, how can we apply for more assistance? 
Very little has been left for me to say about the power 
which the Church possesses to reject a presentee. A 
presentation is a deed signed by one, and, as it were, 
countersigned by another. A valid presentation re- 
quires the concurrence of the Presbytery. If the right 
of presentation be enough, why not put forth the ulti- 
matum of the law ? Why send a few of our eloquent 
pleaders from the ParUament House ? * Why not ra- 
ther send from the metropolis a party of troops, to 
bring to order this refractory Presbytery, and perhaps 
seize a few of the ringleaders ? The very appearance 
of the learned gentleman f at the bar affords a strong 
argument in our favour. If we lose our cause this 
night, and if we meet again at a higher tribunal, we 
know that every one possesses a conviction that we are 
fighting for our last stake. If we gain there, our vic- 
tory is complete. I meant to have said no more, but 
for one thing which has been urged. It has been said 
that we have acted disrespectfully towards the king. 
This is a mere bugbear to frighten children. It smells 
of feudalism all over. Were it known with what fond 
interest all Scotland is now looking on the discussion 

* The Court of Session in Scotland — the supreme civil court ; the Ge- 
neral Assembly being the supreme ecclesiastical court, 
t Mr Patrick Robertson, now Lord Robertson. 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



93 



before us, and how dearly her people love their Church, 
sovereignty would smile complacent. 

The Synod affirmed the deliverance of the Presby- 
tery by a majority — Dr Macfarlan appealing to the 
next General Assembly. 

Tuesday, 25th May 1824. — The case came on before 
the General Assembly ; and such was the interest the 
pubhc took in the discussion, that, on the opening of 
the doors, a tremendous rush took place It was found 
that many clergymen, not members, could not obtain 
seats in the under galleries allotted to them ; and that 
many members could not obtain admission to the house. 
It was therefore ordered that the upper galleries should 
be cleared of all strangers, excepting ladies, and be 
appropriated to the clergy not members; and that the 
lower galleries should be occupied by the members who 
could not be otherwise accommodated. This order was 
executed with the greatest difficulty. The appeal by 
Principal Macfarlan and others from the sentences of 
the inferior courts, refusing to induct him to the hving 
of the High Church of Glasgow, was then called. For 
the Presbytery, appeared Drs Chalmers, M'Gill, and 
M'Lean; and for the Synod, Messrs Jeffrey and Cock- 
burn, advocates, and Dr M'GiU. A lengthened debate 
ensued. Mr Cockburn* said, there never was a parish 
in which the whole time of a minister, having no other 
duties to engage him, would be more fully occupied 
than that of the High Church of Glasgow. The popu- 



* Now Lord Cockburn. 



94 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



lation of this parish in 1818 was 7421, in 1821 it was 
8823, and now it might be stated at upwards of 
9000. 

Dr Chalmers spoke in the evening, with his usual 
brilliant and forcible eloquence, in support of the pro- 
ceedings of the Presbytery. He described the irre- 
ligious state of society as it existed at one time, and 
the progressive improvement of it which was making 
by the Presbytery and others, who had done much to 
stem the tide of radicalism and infidelity — until this 
affair of pluralities was started, which threw new diffi- 
culties in the way of those who had laboured to effect 
the change. The present question, he contended, was 
to be decided with reference to the purport and spirit 
of former acts. He concluded by beseeching the As- 
sembly not to throw cold water upon the proceedings 
of the Presbytery. If their decision should go to over- 
turn the previous proceedings, the effect might be to 
introduce into their bones a dry and withering con- 
sumption, which would paralyze all their future exer- 
tions in support of the great cause of religion. The 
debate continued till near midnight, and the judg- 
ment of the Synod was reversed by a majority of 165 
against 80. 

Wednesday, 26th May 1824. — The General Assem- 
bly proceeded to the consideration of the overture 
from the Presbytery of Annan relative to the poor 
laws. Dr Duncan of Ruthwell moved that the As- 
sembly at present deem it inexpedient to compel any 
change in the poor laws of Scotland, and resolve to 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 'Jo 

petition Parliament against any compulsory alteration. 
Dr Chalmers rose to support the motion of his reve- 
rend friend, and said, that he did not hesitate to state, 
that it was his firm opinion that the necessity of poor- 
rates might ultimately be wholly done away with. 
There were maxims regarding the maintenance of the 
poor perpetually rung upon the ears of the people ; 
and these maxims, whether well or ill grounded, it was 
the fasliion of the times to believe. The most invete- 
rate enemies of the parochial system would do him the 
justice to say, that he never thrust his system on any 
other parish. It had nevertheless crept beyond its 
original bounds, and was now voluntarily working its 
silent way into the very heart of those parishes that 
were at first its most strenuous opposers. It was 
much easier to convince the Jamie Macfar lanes, the 
Kate Simpsons, and the Andrew Thomsons, of the 
GaUowgate of Glasgow, of the efficacy of this mode of 
providing for the wants of the poor, than the conveners 
and committee-men of that great city. The General 
Assembly might make and reject laws regarding pau- 
perism as they pleased, but still they would have poor 
in their land, and still these poor must be provided 
for ; and, however they might strive, by their laws 
against mendicity, to do away with so great and so 
sore an evil, they would ultimately come nearly to the 
same purpose as a certain venerable association did, 
who passed a vote against the system of Coper- 
nicus, and the laws of motion as discovered by 
Gahleo ! 



96 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



A member remarked, that if there was a Chalmers 
in every parish, he had Httle doubt that the scheme 
might be introduced with Hke success. The proposed 
petition to the House of Commons was unanimously 
adopted. 

Sabbath, 30th May 1824.— Afternoon, at St Ber- 
nard's Chapel, Stockbridge, Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers 
preached on Hebrews, 11th chapter, 14th verse — For 
they that say such things declare plainly that they 
seek a country." He remarked that, to the most of 
people, life is a busy, fitful, and unsettled dream, and 
that the general direction of men is to an earthly 
kingdom. It is often difficult to see what is the lead- 
ing object of pursuit with a man — you cannot perhaps 
tell whether a busy member of your city corporation 
has for the principal object of his ambition the acquir- 
ing of a princely fortune, or to acquire the lead in the 
city politics — yet we can tell that the scene of his 
ambition is laid in this city, and not in a neighbouring 
metropolis. So, though we cannot dissect the moral 
constitution of our neighbour, yet we know that 
his affections are fixed on this world ; but we see none 
of the repose of full and finished attainment among 
any of our acquaintances — they are always seeking 
after something. Even in convivial society, where 
people relax from all graver considerations, this is 
observable — the present is never enough for man. The 
main drift of each man's ambition is fixed on some 
human evanescence — all is lavished on that dust at 
our feet, which is given first for the sustenance, and 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



97 



then for the sepulchre of man. Strange ! to see man 
disdainful of the past, and seeking only for that future 
which is so soon to leave him — and this, too, in spite 
of all the sad mementos with which the history of 
every year is strewed — to see him embark all in that 
little vessel which is soon to be swallowed up in the 
great whirlpool of eternity ! But what is to excuse or 
alleviate all this? It is just the consideration of that 
gloomy atmosphere which besets the entrance to 
another world — that place where cold and meagre and 
evanescent spectres dwell together. No other being 
perhaps in all the universe has death to encounter but 
man — the angels have not to meet it ; and perhaps the 
hardest achievement of all is the decay and dissolution 
of himself. The agony of death and its last gasping — 
it is this that scares away the mind from futurity. 
Man has to drive a breach across this impenetrable 
barrier. This torpor about death and futurity shews 
the absolute necessity of a supernatural force to 
awaken him ; for he will even return from the funeral 
of a relation or a friend — from thus having trod on the 
confines of this world — return careless to business. 

Dr Chalmers concluded this sermon with three prac- 
tical observations. The first was, to let the habit of 
our souls be one of anticipation, reaching to death, 
and the world beyond it. Figure to yourselves the 
agonies of death, and the sounding of the last trumpet 
. . . these simple truths will give us other minds, 
and make other men of us. Seek to be spiritually- 
minded, that ye may have life and peace. Second, 

G 



98 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



Men are apt to look only at the humanities and virtues 
of their character, and not at their sins ; and they 
make this world their home. Third, You must not 
only believe in Christ, but close with the offers made 
to you through Him . . . and then recollect, that justi- 
fication only gives the right of entry to heaven — after 
that, we have to go through the preparation of the 
heart and soul. 

The crowd at the delivery of this discourse was ex- 
cessive. 

Tuesday, 1st June 1824. — Dr Chalmers spoke at 
the annual meeting of the School of Arts, Edinburgh, 
and entered at considerable length into the merits of 
such institutions. He glanced at the success of James 
Watt, who, by his genius, had raised himself to the 
society of the nobles of the land. He sketched a glow- 
ing picture of the happiness of spreading the lights of 
philosophy over humble life. It was useless, he said, 
to allege that it would raise them from their proper 
sphere ; for it would be as difficult to change the geo- 
graphy of a nation, as to remove any class from its 
situation in society; while the world endured, the 
great mass of the people must necessarily be com- 
posed of the artisan and the mechanic. He moved, 
that the report which had been read by the secretary, 
Mr Leonard Horner, be printed and circulated. Sir 
Walter Scott seconded the motion. He said, he con- 
sidered it equally criminal to hide knowledge from the 
minds of the people, as to hide the sun from their eyes ; 
and expressed his high approbation of the principles 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



99 



which had been so eloquently stated by his reverend 
friend, Dr Chalmers. 

Wednesday, 6th October 1824. — At South Leith 
Church, Dr Chalmers preached in aid of the local 
Sabbath schools from Luke, 24th chapter, 49th verse — 
And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon 
you : but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye 
be endued with power from on high." He com- 
menced by saying, that this was a transaction replete 
with instruction to all classes and all ages. These men 
had first a simple thing given them to dc — nameiy, to 
go to Jerusalem — which, if they had neglected, might 
have prevented the great results that followed ; for, 
by the descent of the Spirit there, they got a new 
power. It is thus that an humble obedience leads to 
and acquires a greater elevation. Our Saviour him- 
self, in this way, first fed His^disciples with milk, and 
then gave them strong meats. An important question 
thus arises — What performances can we achieve on earth, 
that will enable us to meet the influences to be received 
from on high? — for all the technicals of Christianity 
may of themselves fall on our ears like the vocables of 
an unknown tongue. Can we find as plain a way for 
worldly men as the way to Jerusalem was in the text ? 
We can do the bidding — to repair to the places ap- 
pointed for us; and if we are wanting to ourselves, God 
is not wanting to us. But it is not the want of power 
and understanding, but the want of inclination, that 
worldly men labour under. One assigned place of 
meeting between man and the Spirit is the Word of 



100 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



God. The Bible may be to us what Jerusalem was to 
them of old ; and it is in our own power to bind our- 
selves over to the perusal of it. They waited at Jeru- 
salem, and they prayed. To the heed we give to the 
Bible, let us add our supplications for light to dissipate 
all the darkness of our own faculties. And there is a 
peculiar fitness in the Bible, being the place of meeting 
between God's Spirit and man's spirit. God does not 
operate but by the Bible. Man must give his attention 
to it, and dig up and down in it, and if he does not 
succeed, he must just dig it over again. He is at his 
post when there ; and I believe it is almost unexampled 
in the history of the church, that when there has been 
a devoted attendance on the word, there has not been 
a corresponding improvement. They prayed at Jeru- 
salem; and you to your reading must add prayer. 
Many read their daily chapter as a task, but without 
prayer being added. The reading is not enough : we are 
bidden, on the one hand, to search the Scriptures ; on 
the other, to ask for the Spirit : you are to go to a 
place, but you must have an auxiliary along with you. 
Now, those who say they would be Christians if it 
were not for obstructions and obscurities, do not read 
the Scriptures ; and it is their own heart's choice that 
manacles them to the world. When is unbelief charge- 
able with moral guilt ? . . . You all have heard of 
the difference in Scotch law between a precognition 
and a proof : when a good precognition is submitted 
to a judge, he must afford a trial, or, if he does not, 
he is chargeable with moral guilt ; in like manner, when 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



101 



light is given to the mind, and behef refused, then un- 
belief is a crime. The Bible may be true, and it holds 
out good grounds to challenge your inquiry . . . you 
must try it. . . . What do you make of its miracles ? 
— ^how have you disposed of that magnificent train of 
prophecy which it discloses, and which even yet is 
actually fulfilling ? — what do you make of its lofty mo- 
rality ? — where is your evidence of its falsehood ? ... If 
any do not see, it is because they do not seek. What- 
ever are their external decencies, their desires — those 
deeds of the inner man are evil. All the other ordi- 
nances of the gospel may be considered as a kind of 
waiting-posts — they offer occasions, when God and man 
meet as fellow-workers, to accomplish the same end. 
The church is one of those chosen spots which God 
delights to bless and hallow. To your regular attend- 
ance there, add the devotedness of prayer. The appli- 
cation of all this to your Sabbath schools is too obvi- 
ous to be insisted on : there a multitude are in waiting, 
at the most likely place, to be blessed ; here you are 
at your posts, and your work is done, when to your 
affectionate ministrations you add your prayers ; your 
duty is simple, yet there may be many secret parts in 
the process from on high which we see not. 

Dr Chalmers concluded with an address to the 
young. 

Wednesday, 20th October 1824. — At St Cuthbert's 
Church, Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers discoursed from 1st 
Peter, 2d chapter, 17th verse — Honour all men. Fear 
God. Honour the king." He set out with saying, that 



102 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



lie who recognises all as a philosopher, on looking at 
the living world, is apt only to see man, and lose sight 
of the distinctions of worldly rank ; he who has seen 
most the mysteries of om^ natm^e, is most disposed to 
honour all men. Nothing goes more to annihilate the 
importance of self than to see the busy crowds on a 
street. The heart of each, with all its anxieties, and 
cares, and affections, is the universe to him ; and a 
proper consideration of this ought to exalt our reckon- 
ings of other men, and teach us to regard their feelings 
and welfare. It is but externally that an empire is 
greater than a household ; it contains the same moral 
elements, only on a greater scale. A peasant's frame 
is exactly the same as a king's in anatomy ; so is it in 
the form and structure of the spirit of each ; it the 
external causes only that make the difference between 
them ; therefore, honour the king, and you will honour 
all men. Without a hving spirit, the universe would 
be but a waste : — what is beauty without an eye to be- 
hold it ? One living mind is more valuable than a dead 
universe. What are those lordly honours which men 
fetch from the antiquity of their race ? Death levels 
all — the peasant shares with the prince in the immor- 
tality of the soul. If for those honours that sit for 
one generation on a monarch's brow we are to honour 
the king, it is still more imperative, on account of 
their spirit, that we honour all men. All this applies 
to the cause of education for the poor. But some have 
had fears of educating the poor too much. They say, 
that if you add mental to the muscidar superiority 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



103 



the peasantry already haye. you will liaye to focir their 
power. This is a most mistaken idea. It you giye a 
good education to a common artisan, instead of spoihng 
him as an artisan, you only make liim one of a higher 
order : and by educciting; the lower classes, you are 
admitting them to a sort of companionship with the 
higher ; and if science is desirable for them, religious 
instruction for them is indispensable. But by many 
they are looked on as only a mass of matter — their 
limbs are considered as the leyers of a machine, and 
their spirits as the moying force which giyes it mo- 
tion. Here, then, is a field ready for preparing a 
great spiritual manufacture — here is a speculation so 
magnificent and sublime, as to surpass all eartlily snecu- 
lations. Go and engage in it ! The saying of our 
late yenerable king, that he hoped to see the day 
when eyery man in his dominions would be able to read 
his Bible, is one that requires only something; of the 
Saxon antiquity of Ahred, in order to its being con- 
sidered amono; the wisest sayino-s that are on record. 
It should be the means of creating a new association 
between the cause of monarchy and the cause of edu- 
cation — not to enthral, but to enlighten a people. 
Reo:ardinQ: all this, there are two extremes into 

which the ultras on either side run. In many of 

t. 

England's baronial halls, they honour the king ; but 
they foro:et to honour all men — they oyerlook the 
intellect and the immortal spirits of the peasantry. 
The other is when a spirit of Ucentiousness and faction 
obtains among the supporters of education ; that is, 



104 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHAL?vIEES. 



those who go into the opposite extreme — who honour 
all men, but forget to honour the king. 

Wednesday, 25th May 1825. — The General Assem- 
bly of the Church of Scotland proceeded to the con- 
sideration of the overtures respecting the union of 
professorships in universities with parochial charges. 
The Rev. Patrick Macfarlane, successor to Dr Chal- 
mers in the parish of St John's, Glasgow, opened the 
debate, and was followed by Dr Chalmers, who 
argued in favour of the principle of the division of 
labour, and said, that all that was wanted was just to 
render the holding of professorships in any of our uni- 
versities incompatible with a town charge, as it now 
was with a country parish. . . . Every sort of work- 
manship is known by the vigour and dexterity of the 
workman's hand ; and this principle, he submitted, 
applied to the manufacture of the head as well as to 
the manufacture of the hand ; they could not, there- 
fore, but expect that the sermon of a pluralist would 
be of a more slender and looser fabric than that of a 
single-handed clergyman. If there was any one place 
where Christianity should appear clothed in the ma- 
jesty of reason, and armed with a moral power to 
convince and overawe — if there was any one place 
where its ministers ought to stand forth in the full 
panoply of their order, where they should bring. 
Sabbath after Sabbath, the whole force and richness 
of Divine truth to bear, more than another — if there 
was any quarter in the land where the religion of the 
jSTew Testament stood more in need of its most able and 



RE]VrCsISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



105 



accomplished expositors than another, — it was the field 
given to plurahsts in university towns. He would be 
the last person to have the nurshngs of the Church ex- 
posed to pluralists — they should have the Christian mi- 
nistrations in their highest perfection. To them, of all 
others, Christianity should be addressed in its purest 
forms : just as an agriculturist fosters the grain which 
is destined for the seed of a future crop — so in our 
spiritual husbandry would he exercise the same care 
over those vouno; students who are destined to be the 
ministers of a future age. It was cruel, and it was 
most thoughtless, thus to trifle in embryo with the 
happiness of generations — to injure these moral nur- 
series of our youth, and to crush that frail seed that 
enveloped the eternal interests of the Scottish Church. 
It was not well that, after havdno; been eno-ao-ed 
during the week in the play of a generous intellect, 
the Sabbath should bring round to them the most 
childish imbecility of commonplaces ; — it was far from 
well that they should contrast unfavourably the 
aspect of rehgion with the aspect of philosophy — that 
they should hear an imperfect lecture every day on 
the great principles of science, and on Sabbath be 
dosed with a narcotic into hstlessness and insufferable 
apathy. Give me," said Archimedes, ^* a place where to 
stand, and I will move the world." j^ow, such a place 
is a college pulpit. He that is there is an Archimedes 
—he would require to have the strength of an Archi- 
medes — he held a lever in his hand, which he could 
depress or elevate at pleasure. It was impossible for 



106 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



that man who was a pluralist to work this lever. The 
character of a university preacher was higher far than 
that of a parish minister — ^he was a national preacher. 
It is in towns where vice and violence, and all the 
elements of practical and moral mischief, predominate 
— it is in towns where the votaries of sin send forth 
their contagion — and it is in towns, also, where the 
people learn, by a hardy defiance, to break the laws 
of their God and their king ; and yet you will not 
permit the fountains to be opened, and the healing 
streams to flow, and temper the violence of the disease. 
. . . You have pursued a strange mode of spiritual 
husbandry ; — you have placed your keepers and your 
scarecrows to prevent the pigeons and jackdaws from 
lighting on your potato fields, while in your garden 
culture you have established nurseries of deleterious 
weeds, and spread the seed-plants all over the face of 
your territory ; and thus you have taken care to 
provide for the wholesale deterioration of your own 
precious hopes and eternal interests. — He concluded 
by moving, that a committee be appointed to prepare 
an overture and interim act, declaring the union of 
the parochial town charges with the professors' chairs 
to be in future incompatible ; and, further, that the 
General Assembly should take into consideration the 
means of raising revenues for the better advancement 
of professors' chairs. After two days' debate, Dr 
Chalmers lost his motion by 144 to 118. 

Saturday, 28th May 1825. — At the General As- 
sembly. Reports were given in from the Committees 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



107 



on Education in the Highlands and Islands of Scot- 
land, and in India. This led to a discussion, as to 
which of the objects should have the preference. Dr 
Chalmers said, he thought both objects might go 
together. Charity did not work by the process of 
exhaustion, but by fermentation ; and the one object 
would only pave the way for the other. It was matter 
of indifference which had the preference ; and he did 
not care though they had recourse to the Moravian 
practice of deciding by lot ; but, as he thought he 
could not carry such a motion, he would propose to 
begin with the home object, on the principle that cha- 
rity begins at home ; and it was his opinion, that the 
foreign object would obtain greater attention, coming 
six months after the home object, than it would do 
were precedence given to it. After some debate, col- 
lections for each were then ordered in all the churches 
and chapels. 

Thursday, 22d September 1825. — Dr Chalmers 
preached in St George's Church, Glasgow. After the 
serm6n, three hundred gentlemen walked in procession, 
on the occasion of laying the foundation-stone of the 
monument to John Knox. 

Sabbath, 5th March 1826.— Went to the High 
Church, Edinburgh, at ten o'clock, to hear Dr Chal- 
mers. He preached the first annual sermon against 
cruelty to animals. His text was from Proverbs, 12th 
chapter, 10th verse — A righteous man regardeth the 
life of his beast." He set out with noticing the dif- 
ferent meanings of the word regard." He observed, 



108 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



that a man is responsible for the application of his fa- 
culty of attention If you notice or regard the dis- 
tress of a sentient being, you must sympathize with it. 
. . . The limited scope of our vision saves us much dis- 
tress. ... If we saw the teeming multitudes in the beve- 
rage we put to our lips, we would need to be endowed 
with a proportional hardness of heart — we would need 
a nervous system impregnable as iron — to infuse an 

opiate into the recesses of our system The thoughts 

of the spirit are fortunately kept by the weight of the 
spirit's own lethargy from offensive objects ; . . . but our 
argument has to do with the animals, not the animal- 
cules — with the dreadful mysteries of a slaughter- 
house. The Almighty has provided for our sustenance, 
and yet left entire the moral sympathies of our nature. 
. . . The sufferings of animals, however, may be in sight 
and yet out of mind ; . . . witness the sports of the field, 
where we attend to the sport, but never think of the 
cruelty we inflict. These sports have a sort of ances- 
tral dignity along with them ; and the wild romance of 
the scene, with its spirit-stirring accompaniments, fasci- 
nates its votaries We doubt if there is such a thing as 

a delight in suffering for the sake of suffering itself. . . . 
Even in the purely academic walk, we hear of cruelty. 
Bent on the scrutiny of Nature's laws, man seeks to 
extort replies to every question by applying the in- 
struments of torture to the poor animals ; but he looks 
not to the torture occasioned . . . the regards of his 
mental eye are differently pointed . . . the total want of 
natural affection is stigma enough for a monster. . . . 



REmXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



109 



Philosophers make their apphances to dead and Uving 
matter on the same principle ; and it is the want of 
feeling for sufferings that brings on a man the charge 

of barbarity Man is a continual source of distress to 

animals ; . . . the question comes to be, Can this be allevi- 
ated? . . . Nature must be ransacked for his gratification 

... he exercises the iron rod of a cruel and murderous 
tyranny . . . the air of pandemonium seems to have gone 
over our world in our behaviour to the lower animals. 

. . . The lioness, when robbed of her whelps, makes the 
wilderness to ring aloud with her wrongs — and the 
birds, when their little households are invaded, make 
the groves resound with their melodies of deepest 
pathos. . . . We come now to the practical point of the 
subject; and here we do not wish to meddle with points 
of doubtful casuistry, such as the question of animal 
food ; our force lies not in such points as these ; we 
seek to draw the regards of the minds of men — to ply 
them with the objects of suffering — and to shew that a 
business of the utmost horror should also be made a 
business of the utmost dispatch — that animals that are 
necessarily slaughtered for the sustenance of man, 
should be killed at the least possible expense of suf- 
fering. 

There is a family likeness between the sportsman of 
the field and the ring — they have certain attributes in 
common — they are both a set of wild and wayward 
humorists, who have broken loose from the dulness 
of ordinary life — they are attired with the same sort 
of garb, and readers of the same sporting magazine — 



110 



REMINISCENCES OP DR CHALMERS, 



they are fond of anecdotes of the chase and of the 
ring — and, lastly, they become fond of anecdotes of 
the highway. The one often melts and demoralizes 
into the other; but they may be transformed by prin- 
ciple into righteous men, and then they change their 
pursuits. ... In the days of chivalry, ladies used to 
dance in castles where there were prisoners in dun- 
geons below. You do the same . . . while animals are 
suffering for your gratification. . . . There is an art 
and mystery in the killing trade — a sequence be- 
tween a particular kind of preparation of the viands. 
. . . The atrocities of a Magendie have been blazoned 
before a British public ; — his were at least philoso- 
phical experiments — yours are more cruel Think of 

the beautiful imagery connected with the old hunter 
grazing in the adjoining park, and the shaggy house- 
dog coming to the room and getting its regular meals, 
and at last its decent burial. A man worn out with the 
fierce contentions of busy life can find in the domestic 
imagery of the animals near his hearth some of the finest 
associations of domestic peace. . . . Some may think that 
we have been wasting this Sabbath morn on one of the , 
lesser morahties of life, but it is closely connected with 
subjects of deepest sacredness. In the transmission of 
charity from species to species, if there had been none 
of this descending charity, what would have come of 
us ? There is a golden chain of providence suspended 
over all the universe. Is this progression to terminate 
with man? Shall he turn scornfully away from those 
animals placed under him in the works of creation? 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



Ill 



Can we forget the cares of the upper sanctuary for 
US? — ^how there is joy over one when made fit for 
heaven — ^how the great Being unrobed himself of His 
divinity for us — and the distance between God and 
us surpasses the distance between us and the other 
animals? — This eloquent discourse was full of splen- 
did passages, and suffused with that fine glow of feel- 
ing that characterizes Dr Chalmers. 

Friday, 19th May 1826. — The jubilee dinner of 
the Theological Society took place at the British Hotel, 
Edinburgh. Upwards of sixty present — Principal 
Baird in the chair ; Dr Chalmers croupier. He spoke 
on this occasion on the diffusion of religious knowledge, 
and replied with ready wit and felicity to the notice 
of the universities of Scotland. An intelligent literary 
friend writes us regarding this meeting — Are you 
aware that Dr Chalmers owed the honour of the crou- 
pier's chair to me ? — Another had been named, but I 
went to the Society, and got the appointment changed 
to the great Doctor. He made a very splendid ap- 
pearance — and Dr Inglis excelled himself. I remember 
the scene well ; it was a great treat ; — two of the 
highest minds in Scotland in any Church — and they 
have as yet no successors — bond or free.'' 

Sabbath, 21st May 1826.— Afternoon, at St Cuth- 
bert's Chapel of Ease, Buccleuch Street, Edinburgh, 
Dr Chalmers preached on Galatians, 6th chapter, 8th 
verse — " He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh 
reap corruption." He began by stating, that our 
desires are after what is agreeable to us, not what is 



112 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



holy; and that this is true of every appetite in the 
indulgence of which we do not recognise God as the 

giver There may be as little of God in the delights 

of literature as there is in the delights of sensuality. 
... In the judgments of mere earth-born morality, a 
man may not be criminal, yet he may be altogether 
irreligious. 

Wednesday, 24:th May 1826. — Overtures against 
the union of professorships, or other offices, with paro- 
chial charges, were read from the Synod of Fife and 
other synods and presbyteries, at the General Assem- 
bly, and a long debate on the subject ensued. Dr 
Clialmers said, that having had the breathing time of 
a whole twelvemonth, it ought to tell on the force and 
brilliancy of their respective orators. . . . The present 
controversy resembled a game at chess, where, between 
the moves, whole months were occupied in deliberation ; 
. . . the effect should be to make the struggles more 

stout and vigorous He had no objection to this wide 

interval of cessation. It enabled new combatants to 
come fresh into the arena of battle, and the old com- 
batants to come refreshed to a renewal of it ; and thus 
the whole intellect of the Church was brought to bear on 
the question betwixt them. ... It was a simple maxim, 
admitted by the common sense of all ages, that the 
work of two men was better than one. The pluralists 
had acquitted themselves nobly in their high places as 
savans. But it was clear, that those duties might be 
done still better, if such men had not both their hands 
filled, and were not encumbered with a double watch. 



REMmSCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 1 13 

right and left. This forced upon him, a fortiori, the 
argument, that if the duties were so well performed 
by one, they would be better performed by two such 
men. Let them, then, give proof of what spirit they 
were of — whether in the spirit of having the work 
done as easy as possible, or done in the highest pos- 
sible manner. These were two distinct spirits, the one 
as opposite to the other as light was from darkness; 
and as the one or other presided, the prosperity of the 
world would look down or up. Could the minister of 
one thousand souls do as much justice to his charge as 
the minister of one hundred ? . . . Let them shut every 
avenue in one direction, and keep open every avenue in 
the other direction. Let them shut the gate of plurah- 
ties, and open the gate of the sub-division of parishes. 
There would thus be a clear accession to the cause of 
science and sacredness. They would bring the worst 
served parishes into the condition of the best, by sepa- 
rating or splitting down, and thus having two for one. 
The monopoly of offices was the very antipodes of the 
high object of the sub-division of parishes. . . . The pro- 
posal submitted to last year's Assembly recognised Theo- 
logy as a science worthy of one man's undivided strength ; 
but made an exception because of the insufficiency of the 
endowments. . . . He often felt affronted for his profes- 
sion when he saw a cripple or deformed person, who was 
incapable of following any other, and was told he would 
do well enough for a minister. . . . But this indignity 
was now added to the many which had been heaped 
upon that paramount profession, that it was singled 

H 



114 



REMINISCENCES OP DR CHALMERS. 



forth from other sciences as a bye-work, which might 
be put into hands already full. ... He would never wish 
to see the divinity class in the charge of a professor of 
this mongrel character. . . . The greatest practical 
homage had been rendered to the science of Theology 
by Sir Isaac Newton. He was no plurahst. He never 
tasked his mighty intellect with studies of nature and 
of the Bible. But he turned from the study of the 
works of God to the studi^^ of His word, — and found 
both studies alike arduous. He transferred his mighty 
mind from the one to the other ; and, after seeing fur- 
ther than all who had gone before him of the God-like 
harmony of the world, and tracing His wisdom in the 
no less marvellous and magnificent cycles of astronomy, 
he turned his attention to the cycles of prophecy — 
equally magnificent — and acknowledged the footsteps 
of the same presiding Divinity in the spiritual economy 
of the Bible. . . . He could not help lamenting the mis- 
chief done by the second-rate philosophers of the pre- 
sent age, and felt grateful in looking back to those 
great names — the Newtons and Boyles, and Lockes 
and Bacons, — ^but chief of these, the great Sir Isaac, 
whose humility shewed the sincerity of his belief in the 
great truths of the gospel. — Dr Chalmers then con- 
trasted, in a strain of high and impassioned eloquence, 
the value of these high testimonials in favour of Chris- 
tianity, with the littleness of the second-rate philoso- 
phers of the present day, who affected to consider the 
study of religion as beneath their notice, — and expa- 
tiated on the absurdity of proposing that the study and 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



115 



teaching of a science which had afforded scope for the 
powers of such colossal intellect, should be now assigned 
to the labour of half an intellect, by being put mto the 
hands of a pluralist. He trusted that Theology would 
not suffer such a blow from the parricidal hands of her 
own degenerate sons. ... He did not hke that part of the 
motion which instructed the Committee to inquire into 
the means of pro\dding proper endowments. This was 
not in good taste. It was too Scotch a method of go- 
ing about the business. It reminded him of a story — 
but which he could scarcely tell after being interdicted 
from anything that was not perfectly solemn, — but a 
httle homehness might subserve their object. In a 
conversation that took place in one of the squares of 
London, it was affirmed by one of the parties, that by 
one and the same Cjuestion they could elicit the cha- 
racter of the three nations comprising this united em- 
pire. The experiment was made, and three porters, 
natives of the respective countries, were brought in. 
It h?tppened to be a cold evening, and the question 
was, what each would take to go undressed round the 
square. The Englishman said, with aU the charac- 
teristic directness and decision of his country, that he 
would take a bottle of brandy ; the Irishman's answer 
was no less characteristic of the archness and promp- 
titude ascribed to his countrv — that he would take a 
very bad cold ; last of all, the Scotsman was submitted 
to the ordeal, when his reply was, with aU the sober 
caution of his countrymen, What wiU your honour be 
pleased to gVe us?'' . . . From the general disposition 



116 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



of their southern neighbours to rally them on all oc- 
casions, he should be sorry to furnish them with any 
fair occasion for doing so. This correspondence being 
to take place with the people in the south, he would 
at once come forward with a declaration of their pur- 
pose and principle ; and not cast themselves on a hig- 
ling committee, which would go to the Government 
with this proposition — What will your honours be 
pleased to gi'e us He could not concur in this pro- 
posal. Let them do what was right, and he would stake 
his existence they would not suffer by doing so. . . . In 
this great question they ought not cautiously to bar- 
gain, but fearlessly to trust that they never would be 
seen traversing the spirit of the age. ... It was quite 
painful to dwell on suspicions. They should do their 
part without faltering, and Government would do theirs. 
. . . Let us sweep away the last vestiges of corrup- 
tion, and then we might hope to see this visible become 
like the spiritual church, — a glorious church, without 
spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. 

It happened that, on the occasion of Dr Chalmers 
delivering this splendid speech against plurahties, he 
was sitting as an elder, and not as a minister, in the 
General Assembly. The motion he so powerfully 
supported was lost by 159 to 105, — ^but popular opi- 
nion was clearly on his side. 

Friday, 26th May 1826. — About a hundred gentle- 
men, who took a warm interest in the success of the 
General Assembly's scheme for establishing additional 
schools and catechists in the Highlands and Islands of 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



117 



Scotland, met at supper at the Royal Exchange, Edin- 
burgh. Dr Baird, Principal of the University, who 
had the chief merit of establishing these schools, was 
in the chair, and Dr Chalmers croupier. In the course 
of the evening, Dr Chalmers addressed Principal Baird 
in the following easy, good-humoured, and truthful 
strain : — You have been, sir, the author of a great deal 
of confusion among the members of the General As- 
sembly and the Church of Scotland; the undertaking 
you have so successfully commenced, mixes, approxi- 
mates, and assimilates men of all principles — -in Church 
and State, and of all degrees, — insomuch, that every 
man has actually forgotten to which side of the house 
he belongs. You have occasioned, by your new-fangled 
project, such a crossing and re-crossing over the an- 
cient boundaries of our venerable factions, that these 
distinctions have now become much obliterated. You 
have been ever and anon in the Assembly calling those 
who belong to our side of the house round to yours; and 
sending others from your side over to us, so that the 
house is thrown into a sort of eddy. But, as you have 
stirred the pot, let us see what will come next. The 
consequences of this rotatory motion, which your topic 
creates in the General Assembly, it is impossible to 
foresee. But, in the meantime, it is pleasant to ob- 
serve, as one precious result of the measures you are 
pursuing, that the scum of partisanship is all flowing 
off from the members of the General Assembly. AVe 
are all united, by your instrumentality, in one heart 
and purpose in a great national project, which has for 



118 



REMmiSCENCBS OF DR CHALMHES. 



its end to give the most important benefits to a noble 
region, dear to poetry, and dearer still to principle and 
moral feeling; — the first of these sentiments having 
been awakened towards this country ever since the 
days of Ossian, and the other now awakened to a more 
extensive field of benevolent exertion. 

Saturday, 21th May 1826. — Dr Chalmers spoke in 
the General Assembly in support of a law rendering 
it imperative on students of Divinity to give regular 
attendance, for at least one year, at the Theological 
class — making some valuable and pungent observa- 
tions. He said it was a ruling principle in all great 
bodies to move slowly. It was proper that it should 
be so, for it would be attended with the most dan- 
gerous consequences, if such grave legislatures as 
Parliament and the General Assembly of the Church 
of Scotland were to be veered about by every breath 
of speculation. ... So far from viewing the unwieldi- 
ness of their movements as injurious, he looked on 
it as one of the safeguards of the constitution. ... In 
the vessels of the State and of the Church, the bal- 
last ought always to have the preponderance over 
the sails. . . . Defeat for a time does not prevent ulti- 
mate accomplishment — it does not prevent the stu- 
dious and sober-minded aspirant at improvement from 
continuing his exertions; — ^it does not stop, it only 
retards success. ... If the cause is a good one, every 
disappointment is just another stepping-stone to ulti- 
mate triumph. . . . The cause of truth and real improve- 
ment, though for a time rejected, must at some period 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



119 



succeed. Two striking examples of these were to be 
seen in the abohtion of the slave-trade, and the re- 
moval of those commercial restrictions which have been 
lately obliterated and cancelled by the highest autho- 
rity in the land. . . . Argument must be used, to make 
the real strength and worth of a proposition manifest. 

Sabbath, 2Sth May 1826.— At South Leith Church 
in the evening. Heard Dr Chalmers preach in aid 
of the Leith Charity Schools. His text was Jere- 
miah, 6th chapter, 14th verse — They have healed 
also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, 
saying, Peace, peace ; when there is no peace." He 
observed, that comparatively few despond on account 
of their views for eternity . . . the mass of manldnd 
look to neither term of the big alternative that eter- 
nity presents. . . . Man is not agitated about eternity, 
just because he does not think of it ; so much is he 
occupied and dazzled by the din and daylight of this 
busy world, that he totally forgets the great Maker 
of the world . . . and it requires no effort in man to 
forget God . . . the panorama of the bright and beauti- 
ful world in which he dwells hides eternity from his 
sight . . . for it seems to lie in shrunk and shadowy re- 
moteness. Dr Chalmers beseeched his auditors, at this 
moment of their spirit's stillness, to thmk of eternity. 
... The vessel without a helm or compass cannot reach 
the port; neither can the soul, without being guided by 
the helm, reach the narrow way: ... it is the peace 
of nature, and not an error of orthodoxy, that misleads 
the mass of people. . . . We are led to form a sHght esti- 



120 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



mate of character, by looking at our fellow-men, instead 
of looking to the right standard. ... A man may dis- 
charge all his duties to his fellow-men, and entirely 
omit those he owes to his God ; and a man forgetting 
his duties to his Maker is like a stray planet which 
has lost its gravitation, and become an outcast from 
the great mundane system. . . . Man is apt to form to 
himself a mere terrestrial ethics; but he will be tried 
at the bar of a higher jurisprudence, and then the 
Being who made him takes up His own cause. . . . The 
imagined vista through which eternity is seen makes 
it like a dream of poetry. ... To preach the law only 
would make men desperate ; but when the signal of 
rehef is shewn, they see a mode of escape— and act no 
longer like mariners, becoming inebriated when they 
see no chance of escape. 

Dr Chalmers, before leaving Glasgow, had got en- 
gaged in a controversy, which, although seemingly 
trivial in its nature, shewed how superior his mind 
was to little conventionahties. On the sacramental 
occasions, an unseemly crowding to the tables usually 
took place ; and at St John's Church, Glasgow, the 
practice was adopted of allowing communicants to 
remain in their pews. This was objected to by some 
of the zealous Presbyterians of the west of Scotland, 
and Dr Chalmers was brought before the Church 
courts for the innovation. From the inferior courts, 
the case came before the General Assembly, where 
he stated, that he thought the better way of meeting 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



121 



the hostility which had been manifested against this 
trifling alteration, was to give a simple narrative of 
the manner in which the practice had been intro- 
duced. In St Andrews, it had been the mode of 
dispensation for twenty years; before this arrange- 
ment, the day of the sacrament had been a day of 
confusion and inconvenience. He thought the objec- 
tion was the offspring of a sickly imagination; — in 
fact, the discussion reminded him of a former age, 
when tippets and surpUces were considered proper 
subjects for learned discussion ; but he had no more 
fear for this table controversy than for the tippet 
controversy. There were far nobler topics than 
these for ecclesiastical discussion. It were more be- 
fitting that, instead of lavishing their wisdom on the 
mere form of ordinances, they would look to the 
substance of them. — The subject was discussed in the 
General Assembly in 1825, and again at the same 
supreme court on 22d May 1827, when it was main- 
tained, on the one side, that neither the great Founder 
of Christianity, nor any of his apostles, have legis- 
lated on the precise form of the tables to be used on 
this solemn occasion ; and, by the sacrament being 
dispensed in the pews, all pressing and irregularity 
was obviated. On the other hand, it was contended, 
that the practice was to dispense the sacrament at 
tables. — The Assembly allowed the St John's congre- 
gation to continue the practice adopted by Dr Chal- 
mers ; but enjoined the plan to be generally followed, 
when churches were built or seated, of having tables 



122 



REmNISCENCES OF DE CHALMERS. 



provided for the solemn dispensation of the ordi- 
nance. When we turn to the fountain-head, the 
simple direction seems to be, This do in remem- 
brance of me.'' 

Wednesday, 23d May 1827. — The General Assembly 
again took up the subject of preventing the union of 
professorships with parochial charges. Dr Chalmers 
said, if pluralities were not put down, he and his 
friends would return unaltered and unalterable to the 
charge against them. After debate, the Assembly 
came to the resolution, that as there was then a royal 
commission sitting for the remedy of evils and incon- 
veniences alleged to exist in the universities of Scot- 
land, they deemed it inexpedient then to enter into 
the consideration of the subject. 

Saturday, 26th May 1827. — The subject of im- 
proving the mietrical version of the Psalms in the 
Scottish churches was discussed in the General As- 
sembly. Dr Chalmers said, he thought it desirable to 
have the version enlarged; but, in place of taxing the 
poetical talent of the Church, he would suggest that a 
committee be instructed to cull and select from the 
treasures of sacred poetry already in existence. 

Sabbath, 21th May 1827. — Forenoon, heard Dr 
Chalmers. Always find him a useful, as well as elo- 
quent preacher. He softens the heart, and repre- 
sents the love and mercy of the Deity in such true 
and glowing colours, that the mind becomes enwrapt 
in strong devotional feelings. He preached at the 
Trinity College Church, Edinburgh, from James, 1st 



REP^IINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



123 



chapter, 20th verse — The wrath of man worketh 
not the righteousness of God." The most interest- 
ing apphcation of the text was to shew where the 
wrath of man had been armed against the mode of 
salvation by the gospeL The gospel is a communi- 
cation of grace and love; — an army of expounders 
fall on it, and differ in their explanations — and go on 
till they lose sight of its mildness and its mercy — 
and a humble spirit may feel itself bewildered amid 
the fierceness of the contest. People get occupied 
with other topics — with the angry discussions of these 
middle-men — and thus drown the sounds of mercy, 
and the sight of the gospel is tarnished to the eye. 
. . . The noise that issues from the din and war of 
men is altogether different from the sweetest music 
that comes from above . . . the dogmas of men and the 
championship of the profession may thus have wrought 
not the righteousness of God . . . the mind breathes 
in another atmosphere wlien occupied with the views of 
men rather than with the message of God ... we 
interpret God rather by the scowl of theologians than 
by His own word. . . . Calvin, for instance, would have 
found a far readier acceptance of his favourite doc- 
trine by peaceful gentleness, than by writing in that 
spirit of a fierce polemic which sits on his pages; — 
there is nothing to conciliate the affections of men in 
his style. ... It is this difference between the meek and 
magisterial style, used and fashioned by system-build- 
ers, that has done injury to the cause of truth. . . . Faith 
is the avenue by which the doctrines of the Bible 



124 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



come in contact with the inner man — it is the pearl of 
great price. . . . Man is apt to turn away his attention 
from the act of faith to the object of faith — his in- 
verted eye shuts out the illumination of all that is 
above and around him. ... It is not by looking inward 
on the retina of his own eye that a man sees the beau- 
tiful panorama of nature, and the landscape around 
him, or that he beholds the glories of the midnight 
sky. Man has to look, not on any light struck out 
from the arcanum of his own spirit, — hut to look unto 
Jesus, Let us never interpose a cloud between us 
and the direct revelation of God — let us lift ourselves 
above these turbid elements of man, to the staple 
realities of grace; yonder is the region of love, . . . 
whatever are the mists around us here, . . . there, a wel- 
come, a generous welcome is to be found. Well may we 
rejoice over the gratulations that are awakened there, 
on the turning of a sinner to righteousness. . . . But 
in this view I mean not to depreciate those dauntless 
theologians — those gigantic men of war — who, in the 
vast and venerable bulwarks they erected, supported the 
cause of a true orthodoxy. ... It is not in the heat and 
hurry of the most successful gladiatorship, that effect 
is had on a sinner's mind, — ^it is when the message is 
accompanied with all the tenderness of its original.— 
Dr Chalmers now adverted to another application of 
the text, viz., where the wrath of man is interposed 
between a right and a wrong denomination of Chris- 
tianity. When the right system happens to be the 
dominant one in the State — if it irritates instead of 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



125 



soothing the other — it fixes it more to its errors — 
while it would naturally wither, if left unfettered. ... If 
you enact privations, you dethrone the right one from 
that omnipotence it possesses; — the other will not yield 
to the insolence of power, what it might gladly yield 
if left to freedom. Our ancestors thus did not act 
wisely, after having divested Popery of its armour of 
power, to wield the same armour against it ; . . . the very 
strength that won to Protestantism its ascendancy in 
these realms is sufficient to win its enemies over. . . . 
Whenever statutes interfered against Popery, truth felt 
the virtue gone out of her ; and the moment she planted 
her foot, in the insolence of power, on her enemies' ter- 
ritory, she felt her own weakness. It is my part," 
said Dr Chalmers, to lav the assurances of the Word 
before you in all their truth and tenderness; — the 
Almighty set up the costly apparatus of redemption 
rather than lose you for ever — He sent His own Son 
to pour out His precious blood for you. ... It comes hke 
the exuberance of heaven on the despairing children 
of men. . . . There are words in the English language 
that are special, and at the same time general, to all — 
in such words is the gospel couched, to shew its univer- 
sality. ' Come to me all ye that labour and are heavy- 
laden;' — -this is as much as if you had been named and 
surnamed. Man is a generic term ; . . . salvation is 
not an offer made to some, and kept back from others 
— ^it is made to all, — although none can tell where it is 
to alight, and who is the individual whose bosom it is 
to enter, and to warm. ... I know the scruples and the 



126 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



discoRSolateness of many; but I look, and find that this 
message and this offer of mercy is made to all — the un- 
belief of man is the only obstacle to its reception. . . . 
Tell me not of the wickedness of your heart — you are 
a man, and salvation's offer is made to you; tell me not 
of the malignity of your sins — you are a man, and the 
widely-sounding all is addressed to you. ... I want to 
win you to confidence — I stand here as the ambassa- 
dor of a beseeching God — I am commissioned with the 
offer of peace to all — all who will, may come and drink 
of the waters of righteousness. Turn, then, 0 men; 
why will ye not turn ? — instead of yielding the homage 
of your affections to the God of love, ye tremble super- 
stitiously before a god of your own imaginations. . . . 
It is proper, however, to accompany this declaration of 
the universal love of God with a declaration of the 
unchangeable holiness of God ; but I want to possess 
your hearts with a sense of the goodness of God. . . . The 
minister is not entitled to keep back the gospel from 
the most worthless, . . . you could not point my eye to 
a being to whom it is not addressed, or to a heart so 
hardened that I ought not to try to soften it. The 
ambassador of God can never exhaust the arrows in 
his quiver — he speaks in the language of God to men, 
who speaks to them with the longings of a Father." 
— This discourse was listened to with profound atten- 
tion by a crowded audience. How beautifully and 
powerfully he introduces and dwells on the great and 
blessed truth of the reconciliation of God to man, if 
he will only accept the full and free offer of salva- 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 127 



tion; and how far does he here transcend ordinary 
preachers ! 

JSabbath, 23d September 1827. — Dr Chalmers 
preached at the opening of the new Presbyterian 
chapel in Belfast, an able and powerful discourse, which 
he entitled The Effect of Man's Wrath in the Agitation 
of Religious Controversies." He had written and de- 
livered it in Glasgow three years before; and it is from 
the same text we heard the beautiful discourse in the 
Trinity College Church, Edinburgh, of which we have 
just given some account, but it varies from it consider- 
ably — and at Belfast he introduced some passages, bear- 
ing upon a controversy respecting the person and dig- 
nity of the Saviour, then occupying much of the pubhc 
attention in the north of Ireland. This sermon made 
such an impression, that he had numerous applications 
from influential persons in and around Belfast, and 
from the Synod of Ulster, to pubhsh it, which was ac- 
cordingly done. We believe it was on the occasion of 
this visit that Mr William Hanna became acquainted 
with Dr Chalmers, — both then little aware of the en- 
dearing connexion that was to subsist between them — 
Dr Hanna afterwards becoming the son-in-law, and at 
a later period the biographer, of Dr Chalmers. 

Friday, llth May 1827. — Dr Chalmers preached, 
at the opening of the Scotch National Church, London, 
a sermon on the respect due to antiquity — ^from the 
text, Jeremiah, 6th chapter, 16th verse — Thus 
saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask 
for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk 



128 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But 
they said, We will not walk therein." The following 
striking passage occurs in this sermon : — " The most 
grievous error in the conduct of the Scottish Reforma- 
tion was that compromise which took place between 
the ecclesiastics and the nobles of our land, and in 
virtue of which the former concurred, or rather were 
compelled to acquiesce, in both our Church and our lite- 
rary establishments being shorn of their patrimony. 
The effect has been, that a revenue, which might have 
been applied to the exigencies of an increasing popu- 
lation, now unprovided with the means of Christian 
instruction, or which might have been applied to up- 
hold, in strength and in splendour, those universities 
of our land which, both in their endowments and their 
architecture, are fast hastening to degradation and 
decay, is now wholly secularised, and serves but to 
augment the expense and the luxury of private fa- 
milies." The sermon contains an excellent account 
of Knox's services to Scotland, and a recommendation 
to all to possess Dr M^Crie's Biography of the great 
Scottish Reformer. 



EBMINISCEKCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



129 



PART IV. 
1828-1843. 

Professor of Theology, University of Edinburgii. 

A NEW epoch in the history of Dr Chalmers now 
approached. We often used to dread that his valu- 
able life might pass away before an opportunity 
presented itself of having him transferred to the 
metropolis of Scotland. A city church he had fre- 
quently refused ; but the divinity chair, without any 
regard to pecuniary emolument, he considered the 
highest place of usefulness. Dr Wilham Ritchie, 
the aged incumbent of the Edinburgh theological 
chair, having resigned, the Lord Provost, Magis- 
trates, and Town Council of Edinburgh, as the patrons 
of the university, much to their honour, on 31^^ 
October 1827, unanimously appointed Dr Chalmers, 
Professor of Divinity in the University of Edin- 
burgh, along with Dr Ritchie, whose name was 
still retained, though his age and infirmities ren- 
dered him unfit for the active duties of the chair. 
The Lord Provost moved the appointment ; which 
was seconded by Dr Maclagan, an intelligent and 

I 



130 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



excellent citizen, who remarked on the occasion, that 
he had not been borne away by the acknowledged 
greatness of Dr Chalmers's fame, or by the splendour 
of his eloquence, but from what he knew of his general 
qualifications and accomplishments; and that, from the 
concurrent impression of the unwearied energy and 
activity of his mind, the integrity of his principles, and 
the philanthropy and liberality of his views, there 
seemed to him no one so well calculated to encourage 
the active and industrious, to rouse the slumbering 
and slothful, and to give a salutary impulse to the 
general intellect of his pupils. He had long believed 
that the great desideratum in instruction was the power 
in teachers of arresting the attention, and awakening 
a spirit of study and inquiry in their pupils; without 
which, the actual knowledge they could impart was of 
little avail. 

This appointment was hailed by all as doing honour 
to the University as well as to the patrons; and, as 
was well remarked by one of the public journals at the 
time, The whole religious public of Scotland — we 
may say of Britain — will rejoice to see Dr Chalmers 
removed from the obscurity of St Andrews, and placed 
in a scene where he will have greater scope for the 
beneficial exercise of his brilliant talents.'^ 

The Rev. Dr John Lee was appointed to deliver the 
lectures at the Divinity Hall, session 1827-8, till Dr 
Chalmers should be installed. 

Saturday, 2Uh May 1828. — At the General As- 
sembly, the draft of an address to his Majesty George 



REMIXISCE^'CES OF DR CHALMERS. 



131 



IV. was read. It omitted all notice of the repeal of 
the Test and Corporation Acts. Dr Chalmers said, 
that he conceived, if there was any topic more appro- 
priate than another for a place in this answer to his 
Majesty's communication, it was the repeal of the Test 
and Corporation Acts, and that it was not in good 
taste to leave it out. It was a subject not merely 
connected with their secular, but their sacred, in- 
terests; and it was strange to pass it over in silence, 
or to think slightly of a matter so intimately connected 
with rehgious liberty, and the free exercise of con- 
science. AT hat the Government and the Legislature 
had done in the repeal of these acts, ought to rejoice 
the heart of every enlightened friend of Christianity,, 
and to call forth the gratitude of the Church of Scot- 
land. He had heard the measm^e sometimes repre- 
sented as removing a stigma from her; he was not 
sure if this was just the precise feehng he entertained 
on the subject. Experience had palpably shewn that 
she needed none of those securities which her fearful 
sister of England considered at one time necessary to 
prop up her frail and precarious existence. It was 
now palpable to every eye that our Church flourished 
without the aid of any artificial protection, and merely 
depended on the love and reverence of the population. 
He concluded by mo^dng, that the General Assembly 
should present an address to his Majesty, expressive 
of their high satisfaction with the act which had ob- 
tained the sanction of the legislature, for repeahng so 
much of several acts of Parliament as imposed the 



132 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



necessity of taking the sacrament as a qualification for 
entering npon office. Dr Chalmers lost his motion. 

Saturday, dlst May 1828. — ^At the General As- 
sembly — on the question of building a chapel of ease 
at Maxwelltown, Dumfries — Dr Chalmers said he 
would treat the matter on its broad and general merits, 
lie considered the propriety of granting constitutions 
to chapels of ease entirely a question in arithmetic, to 
be solved by numbers, and no other consideration. 

Give me," said he, a population, where, after de- 
ducting two-thirds of the aggregate number of examin- 
able persons who may be accommodated in the church, 
there may be an excess sufficient to fill the proposed 
chapel, and then I would give it a constitution." He 
would hold that a parish in that situation had estab- 
lished a full ecclesiastical right to the erection claimed. 
The law now declared, that, however populous a parish 
may be, and however small the church, if in repair, a 
new one need not be built; there was, therefore, no 
relief but a chapel of ease. If the Assembly refused 
to sanction the erection of the chapel. Government 
would have good ground to refuse that in the gross 
which the Assembly refused in detail. It would there- 
fore paralyse the efforts of the committee for obtain- 
ing additional church accommodation, were they to 
refuse this. The previous votes and opinions of 
Assembly he held to be quite decisive of the point of 
the expediency of chapels of ease. — Dr Chalmers then 
moved that the Assembly approve of the conduct of the 
Presbytery of Dumfries, under the circumstances in 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



133 



which they were placed, but remit to them to proceed 
in the subject-matter of the petition before them, in 
terms of the act of Assembly regarding chapels of 
ease; reserving always the civil rights of the parish 
church, which are in nowise to be affected by this 
decision. This motion was unanimously carried. 

Sabbath, 15th June 1828. — Forenoon, at Tolbooth 
Church, Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers delivered a discourse 
from Ephesians, 2d chapter, 12th verse — Without 
Christ, and without God in the world." — He inti^oduced 
the Rev. James Marshall, late one of the ministers of 
Glasgow, to this congregation as their pastor. 

Monday, 10th November 1828. — At Dr Chalmers's 
inaugural lecture as Professor of Divinity m the Univer- 
sity of Edinburgh. To prevent over-crowding, admis- 
sion was given by tickets. He entered the class-room 
precisely at eleven o'clock, accompanied by Principal 
Baird, the Lord Provost (Brown), several members of 
the Town Council, Professors Jamieson, Leslie, Wal- 
lace, Brunton, Pillans, and Wilson, Bev. Drs Andrew 
Thomson and Gordon, and others of the clergy. He 
was welcomed with a cordial cheer, which elicited a 
good-humoured rebuke from the Principal, as being 
unacademical, thouo^h he admitted that the delio-ht of 
the audience did not surprise him. Dr Chalmers rose 
and gave a short prayer, imploring the Divine blessing 
on his labours and his pupils. He then commenced 
his lecture with all the impressive energy for which he 
is distinguished in the pulpit. Though he requested 
quiet, the audience occasionally vented their feelings in 



134 



BEMmSCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



expressions of admiration. The lecture occupied an 
hour and a half, and comprised a rapid sketch of the 
nature and objects of theology as a science. He said, 
theology differed from all other sciences, the objects 
of which were within the scope of our senses ; for no 
man has seen God .... the knowledge of the Divine 
Being it was the business of theology to investigate 
and ascertain. — He then shewed the impossibility of 
man conceiving what God is, or of stretching backwards 
into the millions of years of past eternity. . . . That was 
an exercise incompetent to the puny faculties of man, 
who must be satisfied with a humbler flight. . . . He en- 
forced the superiority of the Baconian philosophy over 
that of the ancient schoolmen — taking truth as it 
stands, and no longer casting it in the mould of their 
own understandings. . . . The glory of modern science 
was, that it was confident to hardihood m what it did 
know, but timid in respect to all it did not know. ... It 
was in this spirit he wished the science of theology to 
be hstened to. . . . Theology had nothing to fear from 
investigation, though the Christian did not require to 
be wise beyond what was written in the Book of In- 
spiration. It was only because Newton humbled him- 
self, and became as a child, that the mysteries of 
science became known to him; and it was onlv in the 
same manner that the beautiful harmony between 
sound philosophy and sound faith was to be discovered ; 
— as it is in things of science, so it is in things of faith. 
He then shewed how well natural and Christian theo- 
logy harmonized. . . . Natural theology glimmered on 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



135 



the tablet of man's conscience, but Christian theology 

became the light of the conscience Natural theology 

afforded as much light as served to lead to more. . . . 
iS'atural theology was not so thoroughly obscure as 
some had imagined ; — it was not total darkness — but it 
was darkness visible. ... It had some bright and beauti- 
ful manifestations. . . . One of our poets had said that 
an undevout astronomer is mad ; and Paley applies this 
when he compares astronomical mechanism and anato- 
mical mechanism. . . . There is greater evidence of the 
being of a God in the construction of a man's eye than 
in the construction of the great planet Venus. ... In a 
single nook of creation much may be compressed, 
there not being one recess within which an insect 
crawls, but teems with the evidence of a Godhead — 
that nature has a God. — Dr Chalmers then adverted, 
in proof of the existence and power of natural theo- 
logy, to the unlettered peasant being able to read the 
Bible, and apply its doctrines, finding m his own 
breast a responsive monitor to its truth and divine 
origin. . . . Natural theology is able to shew the danger 
— but not the dehverance. ... It is sufficient to awaken 
a man's fears of guilt, but it does not afford hun light 
enough to escape the danger. ... It enables him to see, 
but not to avoid, the difficulty It prompts him to ex- 
claim, What shall I do to be saved ?" . . . My duty," 
said Dr Chalmers, will be not only to expound the 
principles of natural theology, but to shew its impo- 
tency. . . . They would feel at no loss to reconcile the 
insufficiency of natural religion with its great practical 



136 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



importance. . . . Natural religion, and its operation upon 
man, was truly described by D'Alembert, when he 
said, that man had too little sagacity to resolve an in- 
finity of questions which he yet had sagacity to state. 
... The questions suggested by natural theology could 
only be answered by the responses of supernatural 
theology." — He then adverted to the advent of Christ 
—that mysterious visitor, who had sent forth to us 
a stream of historic light, which, in its primary form, 
had been made manifest to human eyes, and had 
been carried forward to the time in which we live. . . , 
The argument in favour of Christianity was as much 
better than the argument against it, as the philosophy 
of Bacon is superior to the philosophy of the school- 
men, or as facts are to fancy. — Dr Chalmers then 
gave an outline of the first part of his course, remark- 
ing, that even after the student had satisfied himself 
of the truth of Christian theology, he would only be 
on the threshold of the science ; having satisfied him- 
self ivhence the letter came, the next question was, 
what the letter said, ... A man might come to an 
orthodox conclusion as to whence the Divine message 
came, and yet be ignorant of its contents. . . . This idea, 
and the dreadful consequences of a clergyman being 
in that condition, he dwelt on with great power. — He 
stated his inability to give in one day such an intro- 
duction to the whole subject as it required ; he there- 
fore intimated that Wednesday's lecture would be 
devoted to Scripture criticism, and the following day 
to the system of theology. Then followed a burst of 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 137 

applause; after which, Dr Chalmers said he intended 
to institute academical examinations, and, in his good- 
humoured style, assured them that he would be much 
more delighted with responses from the heads than 
the heels of his students. 

Sabbath, 25th January 1829. — At St Stephen's 
Church, Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers discoursed from 
Matthew, 7th chapter, 11th verse — " If ye then, being 
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, 
how much more shall your Father which is in heaven 
give good things to them that ask Him?" 

He drew a most touching and lovely picture of pa- 
rental affection, and shewed that the Almighty is to us 
as a loving father. ... It is a good thing,'' said he, "to 
have a practical fondness for our own offsprings — it has 
a moral goodness even in the lower animals. When 
disease has entered the household — in the shade as 
well as the sunshine — this constitutes some of the 
picturesque of human virtue. . . . He who wept at the 
grave of Lazarus, would have given his sympathy to 
this The devotedness of a parent exceeds every- 
thing; — w^hen away, his mind has imprinted on it the 
imagery of his dear and distant home. . . . The parents 
nourish them in childliood, and feel the unequalled and 
unextinguishable kindness of those who gave them 
birth. This is one of the strongest and most enduring 
of nature's propensities; and what a weight of grati- 
tude ought to be felt by children to their parents! 
. . , What an antipathy we feel to the disdain or indif- 
ference of a son to his father ! — ^instead of meeting 



138 BEMINISCENCES OF DR CipJLMERS. 

his father with reverence and goodwill, to see him 
trampling all indulgence under his feet! The love 
of parents to their offspring is nearly universal. . . . 
Creation is as a spacious household — a« one family 
under the Almighty parent, — but every son and 
daughter of the species have been heedless of God. 
The fondest and the most unnatural mother are alike 
chargeable with the foulest ingratitude towards God. 
All other virtue is baseless, without gratitude to God. 
Hostihty and revolt against the parent who gave them 
birth, or even indifference towards him, the parent 
will feel as the sorest agony of his heart. The affection 
of children to their earthly parents is the same in kind, 
though lesser in degree, with that which we owe to 
our Father in heaven. This planet of ours is burdened 
with a race walking heedlessly and independently of 
the great Creator who gave them birth — it is curiously 
fashioned by the hand of that Master-architect — it ex- 
hibits a glorious panorama, with heaven's concave above 
their heads — and they, so adapted to the theatre they 
occupy, that air, earth, and water, minister to their 
wants and wishes. You can feel for the agony of a 
parent's wounded bosom ; and have you no name in 
your catalogue of crimes for the neglect of this great 
and bountiful Creator? . . . For a man to be execrated 
as a monster, he must have outraged his duties to his 
fellow-men ; but a man may have discharged all his 
duties to his fellow-men, and yet felt no attraction to 

Him who is the great parent of us all This stray 

planet of ours has become an outcast from the sympa- 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



139 



thies of the mundane system, — so we have terrestrial 
ethics of our own, in which some of us may shine out, 
while others shew a revolting deformity, yet both may 
be ahke destitute of spiritual ethics. . . . The charge is 
not injustice or inhumanity on all — it is ungodhness on 
all. ... At a human bar you may stand acquitted — but 
it is before God that ungodliness forms a charge in the 
indictment. . . . Our depravity does not lie in the desti- 
tution of all that is amiable ; it lies in what may be ex- 
pressed in one word — ungodliness. . . . There may be 
beauty of character, just as there is beauty of form, 
without any religious principle. . . . The fond mother 
may be dead to the principle of sacredness, as much as 
the fond mother of a lower species. ... A man may be in 
a state of high moral accomplishment, and yet want the 
property of an ascendant principle of sacredness, or, in 
fact, be in a state of practical atheism. . . . The test re- 
minds us all of the endearments of our early home, 
and at the same time beckons us to a fondness greater 

than that of our earthly parents The lofty pavilion 

of His residence on high is disarmed of all its terrors, 

when God is thus shewn to us as a fond father The 

love of offspring is one beauteous fragment of our un- 
fallen nature ; — it still gladdens, and gleams on us here ; 
— your memory can tell, that, burdened with all the 
depravity of our fallen nature, our parents loved 
us ; . . . still greater is our heavenly Father's love. . . . 
Offended Deity . . . brings us to the sacrifice which 
has been made for our sins . . . this problem which 
even the angels desire to look into . . . now may the 



140 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



guiltiest of our race draw nigh and make his requests 
known to God. . . . This is the mediatorial ground 
on which a righteous God and his rebellious crea- 
tures only can meet . . . and holiness, which is the 
dress of heaven, is ready, like Elijah's mantle, to fall 
on you." 

Tuesday, 24:th Fehruary 1829. — At Dr Chalmers's 
lecture at the Divinity Hall. He concluded his pre- 
lections on Natural Theology; next week, he com- 
mences his lectures on the Evidences of Christianity, 
and the following year his Bibhcal Criticism. 

Tuesday, 3d March 1829. — At Dr Chalmers's 
lecture, Divinity class; — it was preliminary to his 
series of lectures on the Evidences of Christianity. 

Saturday, l^th March 1829. — ^At a great meeting, 
held in George Street Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, 
in favour of removing the civil disabilities which 
affect the Roman Catholics, — Dr Chalmers made an 
eloquent speech on the religious view of the question. 
The audience rose and cheered. The impression pro- 
duced reminded one of the effects of Massillon's ora- 
tory, or what we may suppose the power displayed 
by Cicero or Demosthenes. 

Dr Chalmers said, — "1 understand that the present 
meeting would not have been called, had it not been 
for certain anterior efforts made in this city — the 
object of which was to obtain signatures for a petition 

against Catholic emancipation But I would scarcely 

have adverted to the existence of another petition, and 
of other petitioners . . . had they not been designated 



REMINISCE>:CES OF DR CHALMERS. 



141 



by the appellation of anti-Catholic . . . leaving to us the 

goodly designation of pro-CathoHc There was never 

a grosser imposition practised upon the public mind 

than by the meaning of those two words We are not 

pro-Catholics ; we are not indifferent, neither are we 
hostile, to the holy cause of Protestantism. ... 1 cannot 
answer for others ; but in ^-indication of myself, 1 de- 
clare that it is in the sph^t of the utmost devotedness 
to that cause that I now come here, and because, in 
this emancipation of Papists, I see for Protestants, I 
see for Protestantism, a still greater and more glorious 
emancipation. . . . The truth is, that these disabihties 
have hung as a dead weight about the Protestant cause 
for more than a century They have enhsted in op- 
position some of the most unconquerable principles of 
our nature — resentment on account of injury — and the 
pride of adhering to a suffering cause. . . . They have 
transformed the whole nature of the contest, by having 
rooted and given tenfold obstinacy to error. . . . They 
have given to the side of Protestantism the hateful 
aspect of tyranny, while, on the side of the Cathohcs, 
we behold a generous and high-minded resistance to 
what they deem to be oppression They have trans- 
formed a nation of heretics into a nation of heroes. . . . 
We could have refuted and shamed the heretics out 
of heresy, — but we cannot pull down the hero from his 
altitude. From the first introduction of this hetero- 
geneous element into the question, the cause of truth 
has gone backward ; it has ever since been met by 
unyielding defiance — from a people irritated, but not 



142 



RE^IINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



crushed — under a sense of indignity. . . . This notable 
expedient for bringing down Popery has compressed 
it into a firmness, and enclosed it within a phalanx, 
which, unless opened by emancipation, will be found 
impenetrable. . • .People might draw arguments of history 
against us ; but there is one passage in history they 
never can dispose of. . . . How comes it to pass that Pro- 
testantism achieved such a triumph, and made such 
progress, when it had pains and penalties to fight 
against? and how comes it that its progress was ar- 
rested from the moment it laid on those pains and 
penalties in turn? . . .What have all the enactments of 
the statute-book done for the cause of Protestantism 
in Ireland? . . . And how comes it to pass that, when 
single-handed truth walked through the land with the 
might and prowess of a conqueror, — no sooner was she 
propped up by the authority of the State— no sooner 
was the armour of intolerance given her, than her 

brilliant career of victory was for ever ended When 

she took up the carnal, and laid down the spiritual 
weapon — ^her strength went out of her — she was struck 

with impotency In giving up the warfare of principle 

for the warfare of politics — she lost her power 

Gentlemen opposed these concessions who were pro- 
foundly learned in the deeds and documents of history, 
— but she has nothing to offer half so instructive as 
the living history now before us. . . . With pains and 
penalties against it, the cause of the Reformation had 

done everything in Britain With pains and penalties 

in its favour, it had confessedly done nothing, or worse 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



143 



than nothing, in Ireland The question does not re- 
quire the evidence of history for its elucidation — There 
shines upon it an immediate light from the known laws 
and principles of human nature. . . . When truth and 
falsehood enter into collision upon equal terms, and 
with their own appropriate weapons — the result is in- 
fallible — * Magna est Veritas, etiwevalehit' But when - 
to strengthen the cause of truth, we put the force of 
the statute-book under her command, there instantly 
starts up on the side of falsehood an auxiliary far 
more formidable. . . . You may lay an incapacity on the 
persons, or you may put restraint and limitation on 
the property of Catholics ; but the Cathohc mind be- 
comes tenfold more impregnable than before. ... I agree 
with the Duke of Wellington in thinking, that when 
once those political distinctions are removed, the re- 
sult will be the spread of Protestantism in Ireland 

Had we mingled more extensively with our Cathohc 
fellow-subjects, and kept them company in all the 
walks of civil and political business, we would this day 
have had the transfusion of another feeling, and the 
breath of another spirit amongst us ; — nor would we 
have beheld as now, in Ireland, the resolute and un- 
yielding attitude of an aggrieved and outcast popula- 
tion. ... I have one word more to say upon a topic of 
great interest. I am aware of one advantage which 
our opponents have against us, and that is, a certain 
command over the religious feelings of the popula- 
tion. Yet I am not aware of any public topic on which 
the popular and prevailing cry ever ran more counter 



144 REMINISOENOES OP DR CHAOIERS. 

to the whole drift and spu'it of Christianity. . . .What 
other instruments do we read of in the New Testament 
for defending Protestantism but the Word of God and 
the Spirit of God?... How do the apostles explain those 
principles, when they speak of the triumphs of that 
truth which is mighty to the pulhng down of strong- 
holds?... They tell us that it is because the weapons of 
their warfare were not carnal, but spiritual 1 con- 
sider those spiritual weapons the only ones which are 
of force to assail the strongholds either of Popery or 
paganism. . . . The kingdom of God refuses to be 
indebted for its advancement to any other. . . . 
Reason, Scripture, prayer, ought to comprise the 
whole armoury of religion; and by these alone the 

battles of our faith are to be successfully fought 

Ever since intolerance — that unseemly associate — has 
been admitted within our camp, — the cause of the Refor- 
mation has come down from its vantage ground. , . . She 
has wrested this engine from the hands of her oppo- 
nents, and wielded it herself, and from that moment 

her cause has been at a dead stand I want her to be 

disencumbered of this weight, and restored to her own 
proper and peculiar energies — I want truth and force 
to be dissevered from each other, — the moral and spi- 
ritual not to be implicated with the grossly physical 

means Never will our cause prosper — never will it 

prevail in Ireland — until it is delivered from the outrage 

and contamination of so unholy an alliance It is not 

because I hold Popery to be innocent that I want the 
removal of these disabilities ; but because I hold that, 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 145 

if these were taken out of the way, she would be ten- 
fold more assailable It is not because I am indiffer- 
ent to the good of Protestantism that I want to dis- 
place these artificial crutches from under her, but 
because I want, that, freed from every symptom of 
decrepitude and decay, she should stand forth in her 
own native strength, and make manifest to all men 
how firm a support she has in the goodness of her 
cause, and on the basis of her orderly and well-laid 

arguments It is because I count so much — and will 

any Protestant here present say that I count too much? 
— on her Bible and her evidences, and the blessing of 
God upon her churches, and the force of her resistless 
appeals to the consciences and understandings of these. 
... It is because of her strength and sufficiency in these 
that I would disclaim the aids of the statute-book, and 
own no dependence or obhgation whatever on a system 

of intolerance These were enough for her in the 

days of her sufferings, and should be more than 
enough for her in the days of her comparative safety. 
... It is not by our fears and our false alarms that we 

do honour to Protestantism A far more befitting 

honour to the great cause is the homage of our con- 
fidence ; for what Sheridan said of the liberty of the 
press, admits of the most emphatic apphcation to this 
religion of truth and liberty : — ' Give,' says that dis- 
tinguished orator, ^give to ministers a corrupt House 
of Commons ; — give them a phant and a servile House 
of Lords ; — give them the keys of the Treasury and 
the patronage of the Crown ; — and give me the liberty 

K 



146 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



of the press, — and with this mighty engine I will over- 
throw the fabric of corruption, and establish upon its 

ruins the rights and privileges of the people In like 

manner, give the Catholics of Ireland their emancipa- 
tion; — give them seats in the Parliament of their 
country ; — give them a free and equal participation in 
the politics of the realm; — give them a place at the ear 
of Majesty, and a voice in his councils ; — and give me 
the circulation of the Bible, — and with this mighty 
engine I will overthrow the tyranny of Antichrist, 
and establish the fair and original form of Christianity 
on its ruins ! . . . The politics of the question I leave to 

other and abler hands I view it only in its religious 

bearings, . . . and I give it as my honest conviction, 
— and I believe the conviction of every true-hearted 
Protestant, who knows wherein the great strength of 
his cause lies, — that we have everything to hope from 
the proposed emancipation, and nothing to fear." 

The meeting comprised men of all pohtical senti- 
ments of the higher and the middle ranks, — Sir WiUiam 
Arbuthnot, Baronet, was in the chair — Cockburn, Mon- 
creiff, Jeffrey, and the Solicitor-General (John Hope), 
— all spoke. It was remarked afterwards of this great 
meeting, that Dr Chalmers, and he alone, had placed 
it on its true footing, either as a religious or philoso- 
phical question — he alone treated it as one who had 
faith in the omnipotence of truth ! 

Wednesday, 1st April 1829. — At the Presbytery of 
Edinburgh — discussion on the Homan Catholic Bill — 
Dr Chalmers went as usual to the fountain-head, and 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



147 



said, There is much to be gathered upon this subject 
from the lessons of the New Testament, taken in con- 
junction with the conduct of the early Christians. ... It 
appears to me that the spirit of the first ages of the 
Church is in direct opposition to the cry of the present 
times. . . . The powers that be are said to be ordained 
of God, and yet these powers were heathen. . . . Magis- 
trates are called ministers of God, and that at a time 
when there was not a Christian, far less a Protestant 
magistrate in existence. . . . Tribute was enjoined to be 
paid, though it swelled the magnificence and the 
means of an idolatrous sovereign, and who might, if 
he had chosen, have lavished it on the expenses of 
idolatry. . . . Those things which in our day would have 
given rise to the fiercest contention, and to questions 
without number of theological casuistry, were, in the 
best and purest days of the Church of God upon earth, 
acquiesced in without a struggle, and without a mur- 
mur. . . . These were Christian servants who attended 
on the person — and Christian proprietors, who mmis- 
tered to the wealth — and even Christian soldiers, who 
fought the battles, of the emperors. ... In short, they 
gave all but their conscience and their faith to the will 
of idolatrous masters. . . . Idolatry, they knew, disquali- 
fied them from holding any oflFice in the Church, but 
it never once entered their imagination that idolatry 

disqualified them from an oflSce in the State The 

apostle Paul would not, I am persuaded, have lent his 
authority and his name to the enforcement of such a 
disqualification. , . . He would not have aided in com- 



148 



BEMINISCENCBS OF DR CHALMERS. 



passing the deposition of JSTero — even for the substitu- 
tion of a Christian in his room. ... He would have kept 
within the strict Hmits of his ecclesiastical office, and 
never aimed at Christianising the government in any- 
other way than by doing with Nero what he did with 
some of Nero's household — turning them to the faith, 
. . . Whatever may be the right of citizens — and I do 
not question it — to pull a tyrant from his throne, — 
he never, in his ecclesiastical capacity, would have put 
his hand to other than ecclesiastical work ; — that is, 
plying men with the overtures of the gospel, as he had 
opportunity. ... To this the Christians of the primitive 
ages confined themselves ; and by this they at length 
effected the Christianisation of the empire, — when, 
through the conversion of Constantino, whether real 
or nominal, — the Church came into a new position, 
and the religion of the Bible became what is called 
the religion of the State. . . . For about three centuries 
there was a Christian Church, but it was a Church... 
without a State establishment. . . . Each took its own 
several way. . . . The State persecuted the Church, or 
forebore, at pleasure; and the Church stood to the 
State in the relation of duty only, not at all of power. 
It preached submission to rulers, it prayed for them, 
and in all but the things of conscience was obedient 
to them. It never once dreamt of religion as being 
the qualification for any other crown than a crown in 
heaven — for any other office than an office of labour 
and faithfulness in that Church whose business it is to 
prepare a people for heaven's exercises and heaven's 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



149 



joys Under these principles it grew in the midst of 

conflict and of persecution, — and was only cradled into 
maturity and strength by the adverse elements of an 

adverse world The principles and practice of the 

early ages are abundantly recognised in our Con- 
fession of Faith, as will appear from the following 
extract: — • It is the duty of people to pray for 
magistrates, to honour their persons, to pay them 
tribute and other dues, to obey their lawful commands, 
and to be subject to their authority, for conscience' 
sake.' ... Now, mark what follows: — ^ Infidehty, or 
difference in rehgion, doth not make void the magis- 
trate's just and legal authority, nor free the people 
from their due obedience to him, from wliieh ecclesi- 
astical persons are not exempted ; much less hath the 
Pope any power or jurisdiction over them in their 
dommions, or over any of their people, and least of 
all to deprive them of their dominions or lives, if he 
shall judge them to be heretics, or upon 'any other 
pretence whatever.' . . . Jfow, the principle on which a 
man ought not to be stripped of his lawful possessions 
is identical with the principle on which he ought not 
to be resisted in his lawful claims. And whoever are 
judges of that lawfulness, we are not. ... It is a civil 

question, and not for us as a Church to decide upon 

In regard to principle, we can plead the declarations 
of the New Testament, and the early practice of the 
Church ; and, in regard to expediency, ours is a pubhc, 

and theirs is altogether a personal, expediency The 

outset of our cause is in principle its outgoings only 



150 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



are in expediency — and that a much higher expe- 
diency than that of our antagonists ! . . .We hold that 
this dreaded emancipation will open a wide and effec- 
tual door for the entrance of the gospel into Ireland 

That is our expediency May I be permitted one 

word here on the politics of the question? . . . Gentlemen 
would need to be strongly confident of the goodness 
of their cause ere they would push it so, to the hazard 
of all that carnage and desolation which, in the event 
of the success their hearts are so much set upon, 
might ensue in Ireland. ... I rejoice in thinking that our 
rehgion rests on other foundations than those for the 
difference of which the sword must be unsheathed, 
and the cruelties of war be let abroad among the 
famihes of an unhappy land. ... I envy neither the 
opinions nor the feelings of those who could look for- 
ward without a sigh to so dread an alternative. ... It 
reminds me of a whimsical recipe I once heard for 
the regeneration of Ireland — which was just to let it 
down to the bottom of the sea for half an hour, and 
then to bring it up again! . . . And really, to behold the 
exceeding fervour — not to say fury — out-of-doors, — 
one might be almost tempted to think that they would 
rather have the question settled in this way — ^have 
the whole population swept off from the face of 
the island — than have the dearly-beloved enactments 
they so zealously contend for, swept off from the face 
of the statute-book. . . . Whatever the vote may be, I 
sit down with a triumphant feeling of the superiority 
of our principles over that of our antagonists. . . . Our 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



151 



sentiment is, that Protestantism can uphold itself. 
Theirs is, that it cannot be upheld but at the inevitable 
expense of blood and violence." The vote was twenty 
to eleven in favour of the Emancipation Bill. 

Sabbath, 10th May 1829.— Evening, at St Cuth- 
bert's Old Chapel of Ease, Buccleuch Street, Edin- 
burgh, — Dr Chalmers preached on Romans, 11th 
chapter, 22d verse — on the goodness and severity of 
God. 

Wednesday, 20th May 1829. — At St George's 
Church, Edinburgh, — Dr Chalmers preached a sermon 
for the daughters of the clergy, on 2d Timothy, 2d 
chapter, 2d verse. 

Wednesday, 12th August 1829. — At St George's 
Church, Edinburgh, — Dr Chalmers preached on 2d 
Corinthians, 4th chapter, 2d verse — But have re- 
nounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking 
in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceit- 
fully ; but, by manifestation of the truth, commending 
ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of 
God." He then proceeded to ordain and address Mr 
Alexander Duff, as first missionarv to India from the 
Church of Scotland. He remarked that there was a 
morality recognised by all men, and imprinted on 
every conscience, and having a place in the vocabulary 
of every language. The feeling of a judge in the 
breast exists not apart from the feehng of a Judge 
above. In speaking of a reigning God . . . there is a felt 
harmony between the savage and the sermon of the 
Christian. The man who offers me the picture of 



152 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



what I am ivithin, carries conviction of the knowledge 
he possesses — of the felt force of the disease and its 
remedy. There are fine touches of description of this 
in the Bible. The self-evidencing power — the divinity 
of the Bible — may be read in its own pages. One 
may remember the day when dim and mystic seemed 
many passages which are now clear to him. The great 
instruments of Christianisation are a Bible and a con- 
science, and a light to be struck by the Spirit of God; 
or rather, these are the only instruments both in and 
out of Christendom. We ask the clergy present if 
their people were converted by the arguments of Paley ? 
Was it by Butler ? Was it by planting or placing a 
historic ladder before them ? Did they see the truth 
mediately or immediately ? Examine the library of 
a cottage patriarch — -you will there find the Flavels, 
the Richard Baxters — not historical arguments. The 
Christianity of rational men is theirs — theirs is the salt 
of our religion — tliey are the glory and the strength 
of Scotland! 

Giving a missionary the Bible to pioneer his way, 
we transfer to other lands the very machinery which 
has succeeded in our own — translating it and dissemi- 
nating it. If you charge missions of this kind with 
folly, you deny the success of the very same instru- 
ments which have succeeded at home. When the first 
missionaries went to Greenland, they had 7^aw minds 
to work on. They tried to implant ideas of natural 
religion first, and the Greenlanders did not understand 
them. They then went to the peculiar doctrines of 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



153 



Christianity, and used the phraseology of the Bible. 
They had felt the burden of sin, and they now under- 
stood the tidings of salvation / . . . Who will say that 
this visible change may not be extended to the utmost 
bounds of the earth ? . . . The Moravians availed them- 
selves of this Greenland experience as a principle with 

the Esquimaux and the Hottentots Many there are 

who nauseate the evangelism of this, who yet can ad- 
mire the effects produced by it on savage life. They 
feel nature's enmity against the truth as it is in Jesus; 
. . . but even the West India planters have sought the aid 
of the Moravians. . . . And here we may adjust the ques- 
tion whether we should first seek to civihse or Chris- 
tianise, The civilisation is a graft on the Christianity, 
. . . The Moravians are the oldest of the missionaries, 
and have had time to work up a more conspicuous result 
of their labours. They have had their day of odium. 
The others have not yet had time to rear the honey- 
suckle at every cottage door of their villages; . . . but this 
is the mere finery — the sentimentalism of the subject, 
which makes the traveller indulge in strains of sweet- 
est poesy Had philosophers done this, what would 

we have said ? . . . Tahiti was the select arena on which 
they tried their peculiar scheme ; and there the rude 
characteristics of the savage state have disappeared. 
The hohness of their Sabbath morn — the chime of their 
worship-bell now bursts on the ear of the dehghted 
mariner. All tliis has been done, . . . but then it has 
been done by a few poor missionaries, who used mystic 
phrases and taught what our universities do not teach. 



154 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



Still, the majority of cultivated intellects in our land 
is either in a state of contempt or hostility to mission- 
ary enterprises. But if all this had been done by 
philosophers, it would have sounded wide among the 
savans of our land ! 

The first mission from among us sailed with men 
full of earthly hopes ; and they were carried out in 
safety ; but disaster attended their mission for many 
years, till they pursued the right method. O ye who 
nauseate missions, would ye not in like maimer nau- 
seate the minister who speaks to you of the state of 
your own souls? Death, remember, is at your door; 
and now is the day of salvation ! 

Sabbath, 11th October 1829. — At West Linton 
Church, Peeblesshire, Dr Chalmers preached on 2d 
Timothy, 1st chapter, 10th verse—'' But is now made 
manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, 
who hath abohshed death, and hath brought life and 
immortality to hght through the gospel." This was 
one of those practical sermons of his which had such 
a powerful effect upon his auditors, shewing them in 
striking colours the littleness of time and the greatness 
of eternity ; and how we can be reminded of the daily 
uncertainty of our hves, by the deaths of those around 
us, and attending their funerals — with one foot in the 
grave, and away again in a little while, engaging in 
the busy whirl of an unthinking world. 

Monday, 1st March 1830. — Received the following 
characteristic note from Dr Chalmers — it shews the 
pains he took to explain to his friends the position he 



BEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



155 



was placed in at this time, which required all his at- 
tention, and prevented him enjoying many of those 
socialities in which he at ordinary times took such 
great pleasure: — "March 1, 1830. — Dr Chalmers 
regrets that he cannot dine with Mr Anderson on the 
11th. — He has something more than occupation to 
plead in excuse — having found his health to suffer so 
materially by dining out on days of College duty, that 
he is obliged to decline all such engagements during 
the currency of the session." It was somewhat about 
this period we remember of liis making a remark — full 
of truth — and the recommendation in it might with 
great benefit be adopted in society — that he would 
like to see large dinner parties abolished, and tea 
parties or conversaziones introduced in their stead. 
How rarely are large formal dinner parties scenes of 
any real enjoyment ! Those assembled sit and stare 
at each other — think what they may safely speak of. 
In consequence, conversation often flags, and there is 
no valuable interchange of sentiment — or of opinion — 
on the most interesting topics of hfe. 

Thursday, 15th July 1830. — At High Church, 
Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers oflSciated on moderating in 
the call to Dr Gordon to be one of the ministers of that 
church. His text was from Eomans, 10th chapter, 
4th verse, — For Christ is the end of the law for 
righteousness to every one that beheveth." 

Wednesday, 9th February 1831. — Dr Andrew 
Thomson, minister of St George's Church, Edinburgh, 
attended the Presbvterv of Edinburgh in his ordi- 



156 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALIVIERS. 



nary health, and took part in the business — walked 
home, and dropped down dead at his own door ! This 
event made a great sensation in Edinbm^gh, and in- 
deed over Scotland. Dr Chalmers was requested to 
preach the funeral sermon of this highly-estimable 
clergyman. He was anxious to do justice to the 
occasion, and, though not very well, undertook the 
duty. The state of his health was such, that he had 
to write a great part of the discourse in bed. 

Sabbath, 20th February 1831. — Dr Chalmers de- 
livered the funeral sermon of Dr Andrew Thomson, at 
St George's Church,. Edinburgh. The crowd was 
great, and the feelings of the audience much excited 
and solemnised by the discourse and the occasion. 
His text was Hebrews, 11th chapter, 4th verse — ''He, 
being dead, yet speaketh." He said, every ma-n who 
dies speaks a lesson to survivors,— a lesson the oftenest 
told, yet the soonest forgotten, and after a brief season 

of sighs and tears we merge to earthliness again The 

thousand funerals we witness seem only to stamp a 
sort of weather-beaten hardihood on our souls . . . every 
being in the act of expiring should speak with elo- 
quence to us — enough if he be flesh of our flesh. . . . Here 
it is as if death had made the highest demonstration of 
his sovereignty. . . . The deceased by his religious efforts 
stimulated tens of thousands in this city, and he might 
be said to have become the personal acquaintance of all 
the people of Scotland ... he is a national loss — his is a 
pubhc death How intensely he laboured — I had al- 
most said, how intensely he lived ! . . . The world at large 



REMmSCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



157 



can form no estimate of the tenderness of the spn^itual 

relationship Sabbath after Sabbath he imparted to 

you here, of his own intellectual wealth — he was the 
man with the very tones of whose voice you associate a 
tenderness of no ordinary force- — his heart was charged 
with what may be called the brotherhood of our nature 
— his was no ordinary championship — none had such 
an arm of might. . . . That such an arm should now be 
motionless is a thought of profoundest melancholy.... 
To his hearers it is a personal bereavement, — because 
of their widowed Sabbaths and their bereft and deso- 
late sanctuary. . . . The unconquerable activity of his 

nature accomphshed a sort of personal ubiquity 

Look at Alpine scenes, where beauty lies in the lap of 

grandeur, and apply this to human character When 

from the groundwork of character that is masculine 
there does also effloresce the gentler charities of the 
heart^ — when the man of strength is also the man of 
tenderness — so the vigour of Dr Thomson's pulpit 
exhibitions was only equalled by his tenderness and 
kindliness ; and he who held sway over the crowded 
assembly enters the domestic household and prays with 
the dying son. Standing as you are, yet aghast at his 
death, it were easy to raise a tempest of emotion in 
your bosoms — we could image forth his intense ^dtahty 
— ^that master-spirit who could subordinate all. . . . Death 

on his way laid an instant arrest on him I could tell 

of the pubUc grief — of they whose city became a city 
of mourners — I could speak of the closing sepulchre ; 
but, after a period of infirmity and sorrow, I address 



158 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



you with fear and weakness and much trembling. . . . 
His was the olden theology of Scotland. . . . The Evan- 
geUcal system has risen in estimation in general society, 
connected no doubt greatly with his ministrations and 
with the powerful and pleading earnestness with which 
he spoke of the Saviour . . . and your personal Christi- 
anity will be the best evidence of your remembrance 
of him. . . . God hath recalled His ambassador, and you 
will soon follow. . . .The countless peccadilloes that go on 
in business and confidential agency shew a fearful re- 
laxation of principle The domestic servant, by the 

care of what is committed to her, may shew the heroism 
of the sublimest virtue . . . but some people are hke those 
wretched arithmetical moralists who make virtue an 
affair of product — not of principle. . . . The peculiarity 
of Dr Thomson's theology was, — shew him a measure, 
and he at once saw the principle involved in it. . . . He 
planted his footstep at the beginning of the principle. 

. . . His was the warfare of a giant Altogether there 

was a manliness in his understanding — when he used 
his strength on a point, there was principle underneath. 
He was signalised by one peculiarity more than others 
. . . some have promptitude without power, . . . never did 
such ponderous faculties have such readiness in wielding 
them. ... Of late there have been frequent outbreak- 
ings of gross impiety ... in this reeling of the nations — 
this breaking from the folds of antiquity — do not be 
like the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's image, partly clay 
and partly iron . . . rest not partly on faith, partly on 
works. . . . He was truly a preacher of faith; yet his last 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



159 



words were a pleading for charity. ... He was a joy- 
ous, hearty, out-and-out friend ... his was a dauntless, 
and direct, and straightforward honesty . . . there was 
a heart and hilarity in his companionship . . . none 
wielded more power in society. . . . Christianity does 
not overbear different constitutional tendencies, . . . 
Under an urgent sense of rectitude, he delivered him- 
self with vehemence. . . . But we must discriminate be- 
tween the vehemence of sentiment and passion and the 
vehemence of principle. ... I am not here to give the 
idolatry of an unquahfied panegyric . . . but whatever 
his errors were, he was right at bottom ; and it was a 
tribute that of right belonged to him, when the pro- 
foundest regret and admiration of his fellow-citizens- 
followed him to the grave. 

The day after Dr Chalmers preached this powerful 
and eloquent funeral sermon, his great contempo- 
rary, Robert Hall, one of the most eloquent preachers 
of modern times, died at Bristol. 

Sabbath, Uh September 1831. — At St George's 
Church, Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers preached forenoon 
and afternoon. His text was from 1st Peter, 4th chap- 
ter, ]8th verse — " And if the righteous scarcely be 
saved, where shall the ungodly and the smner appear?" 

Forenoon. — ^' By personal righteousness," said he, 
" we are delivered from the ^joiver of sin; by the im- 
puted righteousness, we are delivered from the guilt 
of sin. . . . We shall be reckoned for our doings, not for 
our dogmata, . . . Salvation from the power and pollu- 
tion of sin is what we have personally to work out — 



160 



EEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



a battle which requh^es a complete armour, and a race 
which few may run — and as the courser may be said 
to have scarcely won who has just saved his distance, 
so the Christian is said scarcely to be saved. . . . There 
is a host of people who are called the religionists of 
the age— how few of these are labouring earnestly at 
the work of sanctification ! . . . We scarcely see this de- 
gree of intensity anywhere — their orthodoxy acting 
rather as a sedative than a stimulative. . . . They are 
more like men under an opiate. . . . They are sadly 
misled who think the death of Christ the terminating 
point — it is only the starting-post of a busy career. 
... A work done with such exceeding difficulty, that 
they who do accomplish it do it but scarcely. ... To 
watch over the infirmities of temper — to maintain peace 
under provocatives to war — to bid away all the incite- 
ments to sensuality, in addition to all the workings 
of the unseen spirit — -these are the toils of Christianity 
here — and these, when done in the name of God, will 
be our triumphs in heaven. . . . They build up the indis- 
pensable character for heaven, although they give no 
title to it ; — these give emphatic truth to the saying, 
that the righteous scarcely shall be saved. . . . Are you 
putting forth all your might to be saved ? — when the 
fortress is nearly impregnable — the besiegers exert 
everything — where are your onsets ? ... It is not the sa- 
cramental occasions, followed by a year, in which you 
breathe like other men . . . profession brings a world of 
delusion with it . . . lulled Sabbath after Sabbath, as 
with the sound of a pleasant song, yet the whole week 



REMINISCENCES OF DIl CHALMERS. 



161 



long giving your heart to the world. Oh, my brethren, 
it looks so flattering to hear the city bells, and see the 
crowded avenues, and every eye turned to the man of 
God — if the charmed ear were a true index to the 
heart within; but there is an obstinate alienation of 
the heart Avhich God alone can subdue. The serious- 
ness on every countenance will vanish into nothing in 
half an hour. ... If such be the ordeal of the righteous, 
what will become of the ungodly, who make this evanes- 
cent world their resting-place ? what shall become of 
those who do but grovel on the earth on which they 
tread ? It will be vain to allege that they were not 
rebels against God, if he can allege that he never had 
the rule over their hearts.'' 

Afternoon, — How unprovided are all those who pos- 
sess no wish beyond the sensible horizon of this world? 
That God, amid the glories of whose workmanship 
they daily hve, is forgotten . . . making this perishable 
earth the scene of all their joys ; the whole drift and 
tendency of their affections — ^the longings of their 
hearts — are all to the things of time. They would pre- 
fer that God and them should be everlastingly quit of 
each other — they would forego heaven and all its 
psalmody rather than leave this world. . . . The great 
Bible position is, that nature is in a state of exile from 
God . . . this world's state is an anomaly in the face of 

Heaven If you seek not a happy immortality, how 

can you expect to find it ? — all the analogies of nature 
tell us so. . . . The fair and frivolous daughter of fasliion 
seeks to sparkle for a season — and she does so; but 



162 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMEIiS. 



neither you nor she expect a place in the circle of 
politics Many a citizen rejoices in the yearly accumu- 
lation of his gains; as he sows, so he reaps — that is the 
principle of remuneration : but on the confines of eter- 
nity he will find that all is poverty and desolation 

Many are rearing their chief good on a foundation that 
is perishable . . . perhaps they will find a little hour of 
magnificence in the world . . . the house may stand for a 
while unearthed in its pride . . . Death tears not the 
writings and parchments from the possessor — he 
meddles not with the things possessed, but he lays 
hold on the occupier. In turning the soul out of its 
warm and well-loved tenement, he leaves it ruined. 
He would thus seek to lay an arrest on the trans- 
gressor by appealing to his own consciousness of his 
overt acts of rebellion against Heaven's laws. 

" I have long, " said Dr Chalmers, considered it 
by far the most impressive argument for immediate 
repentance, that, assume it even as a certainty that 
you are to live to-morrow, it ought not to abate your 
feeling of now or never being the time to repent ; and 
it is grounded on a law of our moral nature, that to- 
morrow you think you will oppose a firmer resistance 
to repentance than to-day. The present refusal har- 
dens you— you may grow into a harder rock, and not 

feel the hammer of the Word of God If the voice of 

a beseeching God does not take effect on you now, at 
another day you will be more hardened . . . and it is at 
the death-bed, when Death shakes his grisly counte- 
nance at the poor child of infatuation, that he thinks 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



163 



he can triumph over all his enemies, whilst every day 
is hardening his heart, and rendering him more unfit 
to repent. ... A languid eye and tossing death-bed, when 
a man has not power to turn ! And this is the time 
when you propose to crowd into a few days the wind- 
ing up of the concerns of a neglected eternity. Oh! 
cradle not such a delusion in your souls ! " 

Saturday, 1st October 1831. — Rev. David Welsh 
of Glasgow appointed Professor of Church History in 
the University of Edinburgh, unsolicited on his part, 
through the recommendation of Dr Chalmers. 

Sabbath, 9th October 1831.— Dr Chalmers preached 
at St George's Church, Edinburgh, introducing the 
new minister, the Rev. James Martin, as successor to 
Dr Andrew Thomson. His text was Revelation, 22d 
chapter, 11th verse—" He that is unjust, let him be 
unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy 
still ; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous 
still ; and he that is holy, let him be holy still." — He 
remarked how palpably the text connected time with 
eternity. . . . The character fixed through life adheres to 
us hereafter — the moral lineaments engraven here 
will retain the very same impress in our future state. 
There will be the reconstruction of the body, but the 
spirit will be the same. . . . There are many analogies of 
nature and experience that will continue hereafter. 
Every vicious indulgence gives strength to the habit — 
the law of moral continuity of the different stages of 
life is also the law of continuity hereafter . . . the de- 
graded victim of passion here will continue so here- 



164 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



after This text affords no very dubious perspective 

of the future hell and heaven of the New Testament, 
Floods of melody, sights of surpassing loveliness there 
may be in heaven ; but it would purge theology of 
many of its errors if the moral character of heaven 

and hell held higher place in the minds of men Hell 

has begun in the bitterness of a discontented spirit. 
Each one here is ripening for his everlasting character. 
It may be asked, Will spiritual elements alone suffice 
for heaven and hell ? Look to the character of complete 
selfishness ; — cut off by his sordid nature from the reci- 
procities of kindness, he spends a heartless existence 

in the hiding-place of his own thoughts We cannot 

have happiness, if the moral sense is continually 
violated ; and the anarchy of the state is but a feeble 
image of a future hell: the war of passions and of 
purposes, the wild tempest of recollections — these are 
materials enough, of a dire and dreadful pandemonium. 
. . . From the second clause of the text, we learn that 
the voluptuary also will carry with him his unhallowed 
passions. . . . An error in society is, that men do not for- 
feit respect for being dissipated Every virtue must 

suffer, must suffer with one. ... It has the authority of 
a moral aphorism, that the sobrieties of life can never 
be maintained without maintaining the moral equities 
of life : the loathing — the remorse — the conscious de- 
gradation — these are the penalties of vice here. ... It 
will add to the moral chaos of hell to hear the baccha- 
nalian revelries . . . and this brings out the truth of the 
inherent bitterness of sin. . . . The main wretchedness of 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



165 



hell is owing to the sin fostered on earth. . . . This world 
affords refuges from conscience. Take away the world 
and its diversions, and the government which affords 
a defence against the outbreakings of violence ; then the 
reignof terror would commence. Let the unjust and the 
licentious form a community among themselves, and sin 
would reign We no more dispute the material accom- 
paniments of heaven than w^e do those of hell If each 

held the happiness and character of his neighbour dear 
to him as his own — were truth and tenderness main- 
tained in every family — this change in the mere morale 
of the world would bef^in our millennium. . . . There mav 
be palms of triumph and crowns of unfading lustre 
there, but it is a moral glory that prevails in heaven. 
... To be holy, is not abstinence from sin alone — it is 
that quick and sensitive delicacy that recoils from sin 
— it is that exalted purity of sentiment that brings 
the peace and security of heaven along with it. There 
is here a health and harmony to the soul. The beauty 
of holiness is internal. Holiness is the very atmosphere 

of heaven — the moral elixir of glorified spirits The 

acquiescence of multitudes in a low standard for 
heaven, is very dangerous. . . . The aspiring saint is dis- 
tinguished by his holiness from the respected citizen. 
. . . These views would extinguish antinomianism. . . . 
Virtue is not the price of heaven, it is something 
higher — it is heaven itself — it is a sample on hand of 
the very goods of that better country. . . . Heaven is not 
so much a locality as a character. . . . Christ opened the 
door of heaven to us — the legal obstacle was thus 



166 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



broken down. . . . The doctrine of justification by faith 
is not an obstacle to virtue — it is but an opening for it. 
His death was not to supersede, but to stimulate us 
to virtue. ... I can expatiate no further, but will be glad 
if you can see that Christianity is so practical a work, 
— ^it is to destroy one character and build up another. 

At the commencement of a new ministration in this 
church, I have to say to you that it will be a sound 
ministration. You will never hear of a faith without 
morality, or of a morality not built upon the doctrines 
of the Bible. 

The influence of that clerical patronage which our 
civic rulers exercise in this city is at present of a pure 
and patriotic character. The days once were when the. 
candidates ran after the patrons — now even our highest 
dignitary goes his round in search of the best minister. 
There is a moral sublimity in this ; and such a course 
as this is, under Providence, the best means of happi- 
ness for our land — ^for these are times when it will be 
found that religion is the only stay, whether in the city 
or the state. 

Tuesday, 6th December 1831. — Attended Professor 
David Welsh's inaugural lecture. It was excellent. 
Dr Chalmers and Dr M^Crie (the biographer of John 
Knox) there; — they were both pleased with Welsh's 
discourse, and the large and comprehensive views he 
takes of Church history. 

In January 1832, Sir Michael Shaw Stewart, 
deeply impressed, as he said, with the paramount im- 
portance of the appointment to the families and many 



REMINISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 167 

thousand parishioners interested, offered the West 
Parish of Greenock to Dr Chahners. It was the 
wealthiest Hving in the Church of Scotland, about 
£1100 or £1200 a-year. But to a mind like his — 
though he knew the value of money in the business of 
life and the affairs of the world — it had no charms to 
attract him from his pure and lofty pursuits. There 
was nothing sordid in his character ; and he at once 
refused the proffered living. He was now in his ele- 
ment — teaching the future prophets of the land; though 
as Professor of Divinity he had bat small pecuniary 
emoluments, nothing would induce him to leave this 
position. 

Friday, Ylth February 1832. — Breakfasted with 
Dr Chalmers at his house, 3 Forres Street. Felt much 
pleasure in thus meeting him for the first time in the 
bosom of his own family. We had some interesting 
conversation on various topics. He is quite simple in 
his manners. Breakfast is the time that he most en- 
joys conversation with his friends — before his mind gets 
engaged with the occupations and business of the day. 
Tuesday, 21st February 1832. — Dr Chalmers's 
Letter to the Royal Commissioners for the Visitation 
of Colleges in Scotland" published. There was a 
tone of sturdy independence and rectitude of principle 
displayed in this letter, worthy of the eminent man 
from whom it proceeded. It entered into the history 
of some financial transactions of the Professors of St 
Andrews ; which those who are curious in the history 
of old colleges may find worth their perusal. 



168 



REMINISCBNCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



Sabbath, 26th February 1832.— Afternoon, at St 
George's Church, Edinburgh. Dr Chalmers preached 
on 19th Psalm, 11th verse — " Moreover, by them is 
thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there 
is great reward." His observations on the pleasure 
arising from the exercise of the benevolent affections 
were very edifying and impressive. He remarked, 
that virtue has a sweetness in its performance— a cur- 
rent, not a consequent gratification In keeping God's 

laws, there is, first, the happiness of doing what is right 
— an approving conscience — it drops an immediate elixir 
on the soul. ... A good conscience is a perpetual as well 
as a present feast. ... In the second place, in the play 
and exercise of love there is an instantaneous joy; — 
we throw back the willing regards of gratitude to the 
Creator — we acknowledge the mildness and the ma- 
jesty of worth — there is a seraphic ecstasy, and also 
a seraphic calmness — and felt kindness towards any 
living being gives immediate joy. The mechanism of 
our sentient nature then moves sweetly : when there 

is kindness, there is comfort within The happiest 

mood of the spirit is when it is devising for another's 
welfare. This is a foretaste of heaven : all the money 
made over by their hands could not have furnished 
one fraction of the delight which it gave to their 
bosoms. ... In poverty, let in the reciprocal play of 
kindness, and there is instantly a moral rise — ^a sun- 
shine — the alchemy of the heart which can transmute 
everything to gold — the ethereal play of the affections. 
. , . There is an essential dissatisfaction and misery in 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



169 



the interchange of bad feehngs : there is a wretched- 
ness distinct from any loss of property . . . the moral 
smart is by far the most pungent of the two. ... It 
is pleasant to breathe an atmosphere of fidelity and 
friendship : there are moral elements which, by their 
own acting, can administer the utmost complacency to 
the heart : there is a felt and naked dignity in honour. 
. . . There is a cheerfulness of spirit in the temperance 
of the body ; — when impelled to religion by a hope of 
reward, you resign the character of sacredness, and 
get the character of sordidness. ... It is important to 
distinguish between the reward in keeping the com- 
mandments, and the reward after keeping them 

Candidates for heaven are candidates for hire — it is the 
services of a drivelling and reluctant mercenary. . . . A 
workman mav have no love for the work, while he 
loves the pay without the work. . . . Whether are the 
services of rehgion your taste or your task ? — or do 
you wish to make a gain of godhness ? . . . This is the 
policy of a creeping and ignoble selfishness — the true 
religion of a man consists in the things in which he 
nakedly and spontaneously delights. . . . Are you attract- 
ed to holiness by the lures of its graces ? The holiness 
it is the object of religion to sanctify is the hoHness 

of the scheme of salvation The beatitude of heaven 

is made up of moral elements Virtue is the direct 

business of religion — as the holiness is the very sub- 
stance of salvation. The righteousness of Christ is the 
indispensable righteousness for a seat in the Jerusalem 
above. . . . He mistakes, who does not aspire after the 



170 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



true moral salvation of Christianity, which is brought 
about by us being formed in a new mould. . . . The hap- 
piness of heaven is but an expansion or development 
of the happiness of earth — the evangelical over the 
legal system. It is Faith which transforms the man 
—it is the germ of a great moral revolution. 

Wednesday, 7th March 1832. — A new work by Dr 
Chalmers published, entitled, On Political Economy, 
in Connexion with the Moral State and Moral Pro- 
spects of Society." In this volume he sets out by 
stating, that there is one general application of politi- 
cal economy, which gives it a high claim on the atten- 
tion of the Christian philanthropist — its aiming at the 
diffusion of sufficiency and comfort throughout the 
mass of the population ; and he holds it demonstrable 
that this cannot be secured without a virtuous and 
well educated people. He then proceeds, through 
fourteen different chapters, to discuss what he calls a 
catalogue of expedients for the removal of want from 
the human family. He had long been a disciple of the 
theory of Malthus regarding population ; and in treat- 
ing of it in this work, he made the following striking 
observations : — The position, that there is no limit 
whatever to the means of productive and profitable 
employment, is really tantamount to the position, that 
there is no necessary limit on the numbers of the 
species. If work can thus be augmented indefinitely, 
then might workmen be augmented indefinitely. It 
is under the influence of some such notion as this, that 
a delusive confidence is encouraged, and relief for a 



f 

REMINISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 171 



straitened and overburdened community is always 
sought for in the wrong quarter ; in the enlargement 
of work rather than the Ihnitation of workmen ; in the * 
increase of produce, when nothing will effectually or 
permanently keep the country at ease but a check on 
the increase of population/' 

Thursday, 22d March 1832. — National fast on 
account of the cholera. Afternoon, at St George's 
Church, Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers preached on 2d 
Peter, 3d chapter, 3d and 4th verses — " Knowing this 
first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, 
walking after their own lusts, and saying. Where is 
the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell 
asleep, all things continue as they were from the 
beginning of the creation." The scoffers of the 
text had for their foundation the idea that nature 
would be everlasting . . . the longer she lasted, they 
thought, she was less hkely to have an end . . . they 
would make nature independent of a God in her course, 

because it is unalterable With such a system, there 

is no room in their creed for a God — it proceeds upon 
a mute and unconscious mechanism. — After some pre- 
liminary remarks, he said, there is an infidelity abroad 
tha.t would expunge the doctrine of a special Provi- 
dence and the efficacy of prayer As far as our obser- 
vation extends, nature has always proceeded in an 
invariable course. Never have we witnessed, as the 
effect of man's prayer, nature diverge from her usual 
course. . . . We affirm the doctrine of a superintending 
Providence as wide as the necessities of man. . , . Grant 



172 



REMINISCENCES OF DH CHALMERS. 



the uniformity of visible nature, and see how httle it 
amounts to !^ — reflect how short a way we can trace 
any of the steps upwards. We can discover the first 
step, and call it the proximate — or the next, and call 
it the reMote, cause. There are higher events in the 
train, we try in vain to reach; and they will ever 
remain in deepest concealment from our view . . . for 
aught we know, they may be under the immediate 
control of higher beings than ourselves. . . , By a re- 
sponsive touch at the higher end of the chain, a 
prayer-hearing God may answer the prayers of 

man Thus, at one and the same time, we may 

live under the care of a presiding God, and the har- 
monies of the universe. This is a beautiful accordance 
with the theology of Job — those scenic representa- 
tions — Job, 26th chapter, 14th verse — Lo, these are 
parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of 
him ? but the thunder of his power who can under- 
stand?" The ways Job speaks of are the pheno- 
mena of the atmosphere. We are unable to perceive 
what are the respective provinces of philosophy and 
faith . . . the domain of philosophy terminates at the 
limit to which we can reach by human ken . . . above 

this may be termed the region of faith Whatever 

is done in the higher or transcendental region, will 
pass, by a descending influence, to palpable observa- 
tion God has ordained a regimen of general laws . . . 

all those causes that are visible are invariable He 

can still adapt the forthgoings of His power to all the 
wants and wishes of His family; — there, at His place 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



173 



of supernal command, he can direct matters as He will, 
without altering any of the visible laws of the uni- 
verse When the sigh of the midnight storm sends its 

fearful agitation to the mother's heart — when she 
thinks of her sailor boy — this infidelity we speak of 
would hold the mother's prayer as useless, as if directed 
to the winds themselves. God might answer the 
prayer, not by sensible miracle, but by a touch of a 
deeper kind among those recesses of meteorology. 
Virtue, there, may come out of him, and pass like a 
winged messenger . . . the heat, and the vapour, and the 
atmospherical precipitates, may proceed according to 
the successions of our established philosophy . . . yet 

influence may have been accorded to prayer Such 

is the joyful persuasion of faith, — and proud philosophy 
cannot overcome it ; — and thus a woman's cry may 
have changed the winds of heaven, and wafted the first 
and fondest of her treasures safe again to a mother's 
bosom. ... The 135th Psalm says, ''Whatsoever the 
Lord pleased, that did He in heaven, and in earth, in 
the sea, and all deep places. He causeth the vapours 
to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh 
lightnings for the rain ; He bringeth the w^ind out of 
his treasuries." 

In the 148th Psalm, at the 8th verse, the words 
are, " Fire, and hail ; snow, and vapours ; stormy 
wind fulfilling His word" — power as ascribed to God, 
but not as from miracle. 

Dr Chalmers here referred to the 107th Psalm, the 
words of which are very grand ; and remarked, that 



174 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



God answers prayer by the application of secondary 

causes Let the constancy of potent and palpable 

nature be as certain as it may — in the invisible. He 
brings all things to pass as He wills — the machinery^ 

is not cast away, but pressed into the service Every 

year of smiling plenty on earth is a year crowned 
with the bounty of heaven. For example, Acts, 14th 
chapter, 17th verse—'' Nevertheless, He left not him- 
self without witness, in that He did good, and gave us 
rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts 
with food and gladness." . . . Let us now instance prayer 
for health;— we ask, if here philosophy has taken pos- 
session of the whole domain ? — and if ever, in the deal- 
ings of God, faith had more, and science less, it is in 
that mystery — the cholera — which still hangs over us, 
and may in a week or a day make fell swoop among 
us. . . . Even the remote cause assigned for this pesti- 
lence does not shut out the intervention of God . . . but 
among the scoffers of our latter day the finger of a God 
is disowned, just in proportion to our ignorance of a 
cause. . . . The idea of a Deity was first disowned in high 
places, and then passed, as if by infection, into general 
society As connected with this pestilence, in every- 
thing make your requests known to God. Looking to 
the one, we learn the subordination of all nature — to 
the other, the constancy of visible nature. He who 
acts on his faith in these, is at once a man of prudence 
and a man of prayer — ^he is neither the mystic who 

will not act, nor the infidel who will not pray The 

cottage patriarch, in his simple understanding, unites 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHAL:MERS. 



175 



his dependence on God with the use of means There 

has been nothing great in the history of the Church 
without this union of men of performance and men of 
prayer. In the Saviour's temptation, the adversary, 
when he found liis rehance on Providence, proposed 
to him to throw himself from the pinnacle of the 
temple : he replied that nature did not interfere for 
common purposes. Our Saviour would not, in defiance 
of the law of gravitation, cast himself down — neither 
should we throw ourselves in the way of probable evil, 

or contagion We rejoice in this, our local fast, in 

our city. ... It is well that there should be a jDubhc and 
a prayerful recognition of God among us. . . . There is a 
real and substantive connexion between our prayers 

and the warding off of disease from our city While 

we invoke the heavenly agent, let us use the means 
and instruments — the system of expedients that has 
been so weU prepared — dihgently operating, and shew- 
ing the importance of preparation, and not the igno- 
rant fanaticism of an erroneous Christianity, where 
means were overborne — for there it was the disease 
again spread Experience is a schoolmaster autho- 
rised by God for His family on earth. . . . Scripture only 
denounces vain pliilosophy— not all science — only 

science falsely so called We have heard that the 

study of natural science leads to infidelity ; but this is 
but the slighter study of it. . . . Infidehty stands indebted 

only to a half-learned generation With iSTewton the 

things of science lent their aid to the things of sacred- 
ness ; — ^he turned to Scripture — and found its cycles of 



176 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS 



philosophy harmonious and true. It is a proud thing 
for Christianity that all the giants of other times bowed 
to its truth ; and it softens while it irradiates the cha- 
racter of Newton, that he was loved for the milder 
glories of his character — his was the pious simplicity 
of a cottage patriarch. May we be defended from the 
wild effervescence that would banish sound faith and 
sound philosophy from our shores ! 

Friday, 30th March 1832.— Heard Dr Chalmers's 
concluding lecture for the session, — as Professor of 
Theology in the University of Edinburgh. In the 
preliminary prayer he remarked, May we remember 
what this unceasing conflict of seasons is to end in, 
and give ourselves to the preparation for that unseen 
world which lies beyond." He said, The value of the 
parochial or territorial system is beautifully exemplified 
by the greater attendance on a local than a general 

Sabbath-school. We saw this first in a city parish 

We want hearts for the imitation of a process^ — then 
heads to apprehend a general principle ; — and we have 
got more credit for the discovery than the invention. — 
The argument in favour of a local school is the same as 
for a Church Establishment — the gregarious principle. 
The schools on a general principle are the centres of a 
vivifying influence, diffusing itself through a dead and 
putrid mass. — The pulpit of an Established minister 
may be made the centre of a locomotion in favour of 
Christianity in the circle of his parish. The church 
may be termed the centre of emanation. The chapel 
is only a centre of attraction ; declension will, I fear, 



REMINISCEisCES OF DR CHALMERS. 177 

ever take place with dissenterism alone. With the 
aggressive operation which their office and their cha- 
racter enables them to exercise, ministers will not only 
uphold, but extend Christianity ; but for this, they 
must have an unconquerable love of souls — an unction 
from on high — going densely and closely to work on 
the famihes of a contiguous population. There is no 
reason for despair from the past impotency of our 
Establishment. Gillies in Glasgow, and Erskine in 
Edinburgh, did much ; our large cities have outgrown 
the provision of ministers and churches. The practice 
of household cultivation has fallen nearly into desuetude. 
As a scheme of Christian usefulness, a city mission, on 
the local principle I have insisted on, is most important, 
and I would desire to see probationers employed in this 
under our city clergy. You would enjoy here, every 
day, a feast of the affections and pleasant experience of 
human nature ; here you would have the valuable 
compound of activity and devotion. . . . The population 
of Glasgow is 222,000 ; there are 73,000 church 
sittings, and there are 20,000 above twelve years of 
age without sittings ; but there is an important dis- 
tinction between the sittino-s and the sitters. — Dr 
Chalmers said, I beheve there are 60,000 who don't 
go to church. The Glasgow probationers have offered 
themselves as parochial missionaries. There is a right 
of consent and control on the part of the clergy to 
such a scheme, and these services ought not to be 
gratuitous ; home benevolence will promote the cause 
oi foreign missions. 

M 



178 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



We have now, said he, completed one revolution of 
our theological cycle, and I look to the future with 
more complacency than the past; any effort of mine 
can be but little, compared with the importance and 
magnitude of the object. 

All my sympathies and recollections are in favour 
of juvenile society — and I have an enamoured taste for 
the landscapes of my country : if spared to a green 
old age, nothing will afford me greater delight than 
to visit you all in your respective manses. 

In the concluding prayer, he said. May we remem- 
ber that Jesus came, not only to deliver us from the 
present evil world, with all its wretched train of pollu- 
tions and vanities, but also to deliver us from the 
wrath that is to come. 

Tuesday, 3d April 1832. — Dined with Dr Chalmers 
at his house, Forres Street, and spent a delightful 
evening with this truly great and good man, unbo- 
soming himself in the midst of his own family and a 
few friends, on the occasion of the close of his College 
session. Dr David Welsh, Mr Paul, Rev. James Mon- 
teith, and Miss Monro* were of the party. We had 
much easy and interesting conversation. 

Friday, 27th April 1832. — Dr Chalmers preached 
in St George's Church, Edinburgh, a beautiful and 
useful discourse in aid of the Blind Asylum. In this 
sermon he developed his peculiar views on public 
charities — and we deem them full of truth. Hospitals 

Afterwards Lady Stuart of AUanbank. 



EEMINISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



179 



for the poor and for the residence of poor children are 
apt to create carelessness and improvidence on the part 
of families who expect to be recipients of those en- 
dowments ; and the supply for these charities is much 
greater than the demand. His text was from Matthew^, 
loth chapter, 32d verse — Then Jesus called his 
disciples unto him. and said, I have compassion on the 
multitude, because they continue with me now three 
days, and have notliinc^ to eat : and I will not send 
them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.'*' He 
referred also to the passages, John, 6th chapter, 24th 
to 26th verses; and Matthew, 12th chapter, loth verse. 
Compassion, said he, is that feeling which arises in the 
heart of one human bemo- in lookino^ at the misery of 
another. In the case of proper punishment, or the pain 
of a severe but salutary operation, or a correction ad- 
ministered for the good of the object, our sense of 
justice checks the feeling of compassion. In the matter 
of charitv. a man may have the instinct without the 
inteUio;ence. Why should thouo;ht. and wisdom, and 
intelhgence not be admitted into this department? 
Why should mere male or female sentimentahsm be 
allowed to cry it down ? It would be surprising if the 
piercing cry of hunger did not affect a man with com- 
passion ; — no talent or eloquence ought to shield fi'om 
pubhc reprobation the man who would propose to 
leave another in huntrer unrelieved. When you come 
forward with a plan for charity, you require the un- 
derstandino; — it may do 2:ood, or it may ao-o;ravate the 
evil it was intended to cure. With its seemly appa- 



180 



BEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALIVIERS. 



ratus of direct security, it may draw the stream of 
charity to a bottomless abyss. One may have such 
confidence in the sympathies of nature as to depre- 
cate legislative interference with them. Benevolence, 
moulded into the shape and the lifelessness of a statue, 
he may deprecate, and it becomes calumny when his. 
sensibilities are impeached for this — because he cannot 
bow the knee to those courts and corporations of 
charity which may have tried only to give perpetuity 
to error. . . . Let us cease to wonder, that, amid the 
thickenings of such warfare, evil should be called good, 
while we are only aiming at the overthrow of those 
intellectual perversities that would congeal true charity. 
... In the text there is a restlessness, giving authentic 
proclamation of nature in distress. . . . Jesus, without 
delay for discrimination, did bring immediately forward 
food for all. . . . By a revolution of trade, we may see 
brought about the same occurrence that drew the 
loaves from a pitying Saviour, If man cannot do by a 
combined effort what each man can do by himself — 
because the machinery of human concert cannot do it 
— if a right economy of general distribution be above 
man's skill — let men have their contests about plans ; 
this cannot expunge the principle of compassion from 
man's bosom — each can fill up his own httle sphere by 
kind attentions— there lies through the mass of society 
such a vigilant attention and kindness ; and if, super- 
added to it, you have the hght of the gospel, what a 
power is there ! 

The question that is now baffling legislative 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



181 



skill,* if let alone, would work its way. ... In spite of 
the prevalence of selfishness in our world, more is 
done by individuals than by all the parade of all the 
public charities of our land. ... In proportion as Chris- 
tianity is dealt forth — as men go forth to their feUow- 
men — on the one errand of preparing them for heaven, 
good will be done. 

John, 6th chapter, 24th to 26th verses — ''When the 
people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither 
his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to 
Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. And when they had 
found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto 
liim. Rabbi, when camest thou hither ? Jesus answered 
them, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you. Ye seek 
me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye 
did eat of the loaves, and were filled." — Here they were 
seeking to draw hunger on themselves in the hope of 
another dehverance. . . . Mark how the Saviour saw the 
commencement of this sordid feeling ! There was room 
with Him for the softness of charitable feeling, as well 
as discrimination with Him in whom all the graces of 
character were mixed, while He looked with unclouded 

penetration on what was around We know not if 

Jesus ever sent unanswered a petitioner for health away 
from Him. . . . Our Saviour's progress through Judea 
had by this time become a matter of public notoriety. 
... It would have been mischievous if the great preacher 
of righteousness had become the great almoner for men. 
Godliness, by being turned into gain, ceases to be 

* The Poor-Laws. 



182 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



godliness. The triumph of the spiritual over the sen- 
sible part of our nature was here. Had He done, by 
the multiplication of loaves, what many of our scheming 
philanthropists would have wished Him to have done, it 
would have graven on our species deeper traces of the 
selfishness and sensuality of men. Let people imitate 
His caution; each should carry in his bosom a 'heart 
most feelingly alive to the sufferings of others, but not, 
under the guise of liberality, bring a cruel disappoint- 
ment on others. The caution that marked Jesus' 
conduct when acting as an almoner, He laid aside when 
acting as a physician. Though poverty has no charms, 
yet there are many in the dissipation that leads to it. 
Poverty is the spectre which tends to deter ; and a 
public charity tends to disarm this spectre of its terror. 
'No man will court a disease for the sake of the cure ; 
they find their way to the one by a transition of pain, 
to the other by a transition of pleasure. No man will 
put out his eyes to get the benefit of a blind asylum. 
The one enlists the human will on the side of poverty 
- — the other never can enlist the human will in favour 
of disease. Open the door of a charity, and the 
poverty outside constantly increases. By every shil- 
ling surrendered for the one object, you increase the 
demand. Doubtless the mind of an Icelandic peasant 
may have greater care, as he has to provide against 
the danger of a volcano. It elevates a northern 
peasantry, having to provide against a severe winter. 
What wealth would be too great a sacrifice to pur- 
chase a stream of health that would sweep pestilence 



f 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 183 

away from a land! By the money laid out on an 
asylum for indigence, you make a worse distribution 
than before; by an asylum for disease, you erect a 
Bethesda, which sends out a healing stream. There 
is not only wisdom, but a profoundness of wisdom in 
the conduct of our Saviour in these matters. Save in 
emergencies, it would be better to leave indigence to 
the play of those natural charities and sympathies of 
nature. The reckless philanthropy of the day, ever 
scheming, may learn a useful lesson from the Saviour's 

course in charity We are safe in providing for those 

sufferings which are brought on by an uncontrollable 
necessity. . . . This deeply-interesting controversy gives 
an advantage to our opponents; and we are aware 
of the unkmd use they have made of it. It stands 
in monumental coldness, withering all the charities 
of the land. . . . The vigour and eflorescence of liberty 
may again break out. . . . Never will political philan- 
thropy have gained such a brilliant triumph as when 
it brings charity to its right base. ... An asylum for 
disease acts invariably as an absorbent of human 
suffering. . . . We do not say it is wrong that the heart 
should be always in the custody of the understanding ; 
but we say, in a case where she also smiles approving 
—where men come forward with a stamp of nature on 
them, and cold philosophy places no obstacles in the 
way — support such an institution till it rises m the 
shape of a permanent endowment among the best pro- 
vided charities in our land ; it should long ago have 
been made productive enough for the limit of its in- 



184 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



teresting objects. ... I should rejoice if those who give 
so many guineas annually would give a preference, on 
the principle I have advocated, to an infirmary, a 
surgical hospital, a blind asylum, a deaf and dumb 
institution, a lunatic asylum, an eye institution, fever 
hospitals, and all institutions for the mitigation and 
prevention of disease. These are the best secular 
charities. . . . There is an attempt now making for an 
institution for incurables. 

I exhort directors of charities by bequests, if pos- 
sible to attend to this distinction of charity. What 
an alleviation, without alloy, of human suffering, if 
princely donatives were given to such objects as these! 
Dr Chalmers said, in conclusion, I have no time now 
to touch on the important subject of charities for edu- 
cation, especially Christian education." 

Thursday, 17th May 1832. — Dr Chalmers elected 
Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of 
Scotland — the highest honour the Presbyterian Church 
can confer. 

Monday, 28th May 1832. — Breakfasted with Dr 
Chalmers as Moderator of the General Assembly, at 
the British Hotel. He had a party of above eighty 
ladies and gentlemen — and, according to the official 
etiquette, was equipped in the ordinary costume. He 
performed the duties of the chair very pleasantly. In 
his humorous style, on one of these occasions, he came 
up to some ladies — old Fife friends-^ — and said, pointing 
to his three-cornered hat, silver buckles, and dress coat, 

Don't you think I'm very like a mountebank?" — In 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



185 



the evening heard his closing address to the General 
Assembly. It was interesting and eloquent. 

On the chaplaincy of the Edinburgh Jail and Bride- 
well becoming vacant, it occurred to some of his ac- 
quaintances that the Rev. Archibald Tod was peculiarly 
fitted for communicating religious instruction to the 
inmates. On applying to Dr Chalmers for his opinion, 
the following was his answer. It exhibits well his 
graphic power of delineating character : — 

^' COLIXSWELL, BY BURNTISLAND. 

"Uh June 1832. 

''Dear Sir,— Instead of framing a separate testi- 
monial for Mr Tod, I shall, in reply to yours of yes- 
terday, tell you in this way what I think of him ; and 
you are most welcome to make any use of my present 
communication. 

" I have long known Mr Tod, and, of all my ac- 
quaintances, he stands unrivalled for the singular 
ability and address wherewith he conducts the busi- 
ness of religious education. This, in fact, is his^br^^ 
— and, in my opinion, it quahfies him beyond any 
other person I know, for the ecclesiastical charge, 
whether of a jail, or bridewell, or poor-house. I speak 
strongly, but advisedly; for I speak on my repeated 
observation of the good he has done, and of his great 
acceptance and power, both in the management of 
Sabbath-schools, and in the household ministrations of 
a parish. His main excellence lies, not in that formal 
and regular preaching which comes from a pulpit, but 
more properly in what may be termed conversational 



186 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



preaching — which, whether held with individuals or 
small groups of individuals, is often so effectual in 
opening a way to the hearts and consciences of those 
who are addressed by it. It is the very faculty which 
suits Mr Tod precisely for the now vacant office; 
and, on the whole, I say with the most unhesitating 
confidence, that I should regard his appointment as 
an invaluable accession to the municipal staff of Edin- 
burgh. 

" If you shew this to the Lord Provost, and if either 
he or you should desire my opinion of Mr Tod to be 
expressed in another form, I will most cheerfully com- 
ply with your wishes. — I ever am, dear sir, yours 
truly, Thomas Chalmers. 

To John Anderson, Esq." 

Sabbath, 5th August 1832. — At Duddingston 
Church, near Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers preached on 
Matthew, 7th chapter, 11th verse — If ye then, being- 
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, 
how much more shall your Father which is in heaven 
give good things to them that ask him?" 

Her child, said he, is the delight of a mother's 
eye. Who can tell the agitations of a mother's tender- 
ness ! It forms the picturesque of human nature from 
its darker passages — the mother pouring the flood of 
tears over her infant's early tomb. The devotedness 
of a parent to his child in every-day life equals the 
sublimest pieces of heroism in history. It is by the 
strength of this family affection that mankind are kept 



I 

REMmSCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 187 

together. . . . The Saviour calls all men equal — the 
father lavishes his ceaseless and untired generosity on 
his son. . . . Viewing creation as that universal house- 
hold which is presided over by the Father, our Creator, 
we find throughout a cleaving and unnatural ungodli- 
ness. . . . Men are not wanting in affection to their own 
offspring, but wanting in duty to their Father in 
heaven. . . . The majority of our world are not sus- 
picious that they have such a vice. . . . We feel indig- 
nation when an earthly parent is robbed of this 
property that belongs to him; yet we overlook the 
same crime when directed against the universal Fa- 
ther. With Heaven's illumined concave above, and 
the smiling landscapes around, and so adapted him- 
self to the scene he inhabits, that earth, air, and 
water, are all the ministers of his enjoyments — we 
perceive not the deep criminality of a world that has 
departed from its God. Have you no term in your 
vocabulary for a crime hke this ? The doctrine of the 
depravity of our nature is much recoiled from by the 
votaries of a tasteful and sentimental philosophy, but 
it is not the less consistent with correct piety and sound 
philosophy. There is beauty in the blush that mantles 
the cheek of modesty, yet the rational beauty may be 
ahke dead to sacredness with the inanimate moral 
beauty. God wills the busy exercise of all the vu^tues 
of this world, and this gives rise to a confusion of senti- 
ment, and causes us to overlook ungodhness as a crime. 
That, indeed, is a meagre theology that would regard 
the outcasts from hum.an society as the only outcasts 



188 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



from heaven. We are apt to think, that if we only 
acquit ourselves tolerably well on earth, we are fit to 
be translated to the choirs and companies of heaven. 
We think it impossible that the being who has graced 
and adorned humanity may be irreligious. We charge 
such not with crime — but, if occupied only with earth- 
liness, we must refuse them Christianity. Would you 
not cleave to this world for ever, if you had the choice, 
rather than encounter that hideous death which con- 
veys the soul to its Maker? — You would rather be 
eternal outcasts from God's spiritual family. In choos- 
ing this, you will say you only make the universal 
choice of nature. This is an important theological 
concession, for it shews that this planet is in a state of 
exile from its Maker. Such a middle state as this 
cannot long be tolerated — it must soon be swept away. 
Death smiles with contempt on human aggrandise- 
ment — ^he turns the soul adrift on the waste of a deso- 
late and neglected eternity. The main lesson of the 
text is to give confidence in God — it reminds you of 
your boyhood. God looks out from His shrouded in- 
visibihty — from the pavilion of His residence on high — 
not as a master over his household, but as the father 
of a family, with a friendship that never misgives. 
The love of offspring is a beautiful fragment left to 
fallen humanity. Still the guilty nature of man looks 
with suspicion to God— it is conscious of the righteous- 
ness of His nature, and the turpitude of its own. . . . 
This brings us to the sacrifice that was made for the 
sins of the world^ — the decease that was accomplished 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



189 



at Jerusalem, ]!so^y can the guiltiest draw near and 
make his requests known unto God ; — hoHness, which 
is the dress of heaven, is ready, like Elijah's mantle, 
to fall on you. 

Sabbath, 12th August 1832. — Afternoon, at St 
George's Church, Edinburgh. Mr Martin preached. 
Went with Dr Chalmers to his pew in that church, 
he being at present a hearer there. After sermon, we 
walked to his house in Forres Street, where Dr Chalmers 
left the Sabbath evening lessons for his children, to be 
ready on his return home. He then accompanied me, 
and baptized my son. He remained to dinner, but 
left early. We felt indebted for his kindness and 
attention, as his rule is to spend the Sabbath evening 
entirely with his own family. His conversation was, 
as usual, edifying, and his baptismal service simple 
and impressive. 

Thursday, 11th October 1832. — In the evening, at 
tea at Dr Chalmers's, Forres Street. He had wished 
us to accompany him to hear the celebrated WiUiam 
Cobbet lecture. Accordinoly we went, in the course 
of the evening, to the Adelphi, and heard Cobbet de- 
liver his third of a series of pohtical lectures there. — 
It was on the National Debt. Dr Chalmers was much 
amused with him. Cobbet keeps up the interest of 
his audience with considerable tact and skill ; — there 
is a sort of comic effect about him. Dr Chalmers had 
never before heard liim, but was aware of the man's 
eccentricities and mental power, and had felt desirous 
to hear him lecture. 



190 



REMmiSCBNCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



Sabbath, 4cth November 1832. — Sacramental Sab- 
bath in Edinburgh. Dr Chalmers officiated in St 
George's Church for Mr Martin, who was absent from 
indisposition. His text and context were, 1st Timothy, 
1st chapter, 5th verse — " Now the end of the com- 
mandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a 
good conscience, and of faith unfeigned;^' and on 
Romans, 10th chapter, 4th verse — For Christ is the 
end of the law for righteousness to every one that 
belie veth." 

When the law, said Dr Chalmers, is viewed in rela- 
tion to that righteousness which leads to the reward, 
we proceed as on a contract between God and man. 
It is work and wages, — heaven is the stipulated hire. 
. . . This spirit of legality is natural, not spiritual . . . 
all nations seem to seek for a bargain for heaven — to 
challenge it of God as a right. They view this virtue 
as a thing of desert. . . . Man spends his labour here on 
a thing impracticable . . . both the law and the gospel 
disown man's legal right to heaven. ... If man would 
make a title-deed to heaven, his obedience must he per- 
fect obedience — otherwise there is a jflatu in the title. 
Here he goes to a tribunal of justice or equity, not 
mercy — here, there is the barrier of a moral necessity in 
his way. . . . God hatb denounced all iniquity. Herein 
lies the peculiarity of the gospel, — man must renounce 
all right ; . . . though essentially based on mercy, it is 
mercy conjoined with righteousness. ... It holds out 
eternal life not as a simple gratuity. . . . Ifc requires the 
unqualified denial of human virtue. . . . Man forfeited 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



191 



his right by disobedience, yet he would fain make a 
trial of it. . . . There is an inveteracy about the spirit 
of legality. The Bible calls it filthy rags — it stigma- 
tises, nay, vilifies all human righteousness when founded 
on as a right. ... It is not by an act of mercy alone that 
the gate of heaven is opened to a sinner — he must have a 
plea for admission. . . . The essence of the gospel is, that 
it brings word of a right for acceptance which every 
sinner is welcome to lay hold of. Christ hath achieved 
it for us — by the penalties of the law, He hath attained 
it for us — as if we had obtained it by our own ob- 
servance of the law. This righteousness by faith may 
be called the Shibboleth of evangehcal preachers. It 
is in respect of its sufficiency for a right to heaven 
that they exalt this right, and depreciate the other 
because of its insufficiency. ... It is because of their 
sense of the worth of virtue itself, and their sense of the 
poverty of the virtue of man. ... A reverence for the 
purity of morality exists so much in their bosoms, that 
they cleave to this — they see perfection in the one, pol- 
lution in the other. . . . These are not the men, surely, 
who have a deficient sense of morality — it is their deep 
and lively sense of it that makes them cleave to the 
righteousness of the gospel. . . . Our own obedience has 
fallen short in itself — we must find out another ri^ht 
to heaven. . . . Obedience for a personal righteousness 
is everywhere urged in the New Testament, and we 
are empowered by an aid from on high to seek after 
righteousness. Human virtue is still the indispensable 
preparation for heaven ; it is no longer the purchase- 



192 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



money, but is the wedding-garment, without which 
we can never be fitted for the beatitudes of heaven. 
We must be invested with the graces of our own per- 
sonal righteousness — the exercise of good works is at 
once the evidence and end of our fitness for heaven. . . . 
They are denounced at one time as worthless, — the 
explanation of the puzzle is, that they are not available 
for justification, but they are available for sanctification. 
. . . The works of a believer are short of perfection, 
therefore short of a right for heaven ; but these tend to 
make us meet for heaven. . . . The evangelical preach- 
ers are still much misconceived and misrepresented in 
general society ; — ^this delusion has alienated the minds 
of many of the most influential in our land — thinking 
that their preaching tends to give an indulgence to 
immorality. ... In the old dispensation, you serve under 
the oldness of the letter; now under the newness of the 
Spirit — it is now a spontaneous offering of the heart. 
Unless this new obechence is entered on, you have no 
part in the gospel of Jesus. . . this divests obedience of 
its mercenary character. Let us be created through 
Christ Jesus unto good works. . . The man who is the 
slave of virtue is not the happy one. . . . Evangelical 
virtue is rendered in the spirit of love — of generosity 
— it is divested of sordidness. It raises the virtue of 
earth on the same platform as the virtue of heaven. 
We are thus no lono-er hirehng-s . . . the sacredness of 

CD a 

God made Him the enemy of sinners ... we are brought 
under the charm and the power of the great reconci- 
hation. Here we are unchilled by jealousy. This 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



193 



maintains inviolate all the sanctity of the Godhead — 
a thing of hopeless drudgery will become a thing of 
heartfelt spirit. It is thus that we become dead to the 
law, and alive to God — thus only do we become eman- 
cipated ! 

Dr Chalmers then proceeded to fence the tables, 
as it is called in Scotland, and said, — Some say, we 
should like to go to the sacrament, but we do not 
think ourselves good enough . . . the celebration of this 
festival is a matter of direct authority in the New 
Testament. Conceive that you had quarrelled with 
an earthly benefactor — that you were the party in 
the wrong — that still he is wilhng to forgive and 
forget all, and invites you to the hospitality of his 
table ... if you do not accept his invitation, you 
shew that you do not vrish reconciliation with him ; 
. . . but you may say, ' We fear incurring guilt by 
future inconsistency — better to keep away, than be- 
tray the Saviour with a kiss.' You shrink from 
the magnitude of the transition implied in being 
born again . . . you are not willing to forsake this 
world's conformities . . . your conduct here is represen- 
tative of your whole attitude to Christianity . . . you 
only come right when you cast all your dependence 
on the sufficiency of the Saviour . . . nothing incapaci- 
tates but an unwillingness to do all things . . . your 
depravity does not incapacitate. . . . There are many 

renunciations painful to flesh and blood I do not ask 

if you are short of any of these things in performance ; 
I ask if you are short of any one of them in purpose. 

N 



194 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 

To commemorate His death, and be short of purpose 
to conform to it, is the substance of unworthy commu- 
nicating. Let coming to His table lead you to your 
Bibles — to have the answer to the question, ' Lord, 
what wilt thou have me to do ? ' There is nothing to 
discourage the man who has no confidence in himself. 
Draw near in uprightness of intention, and the effect 
of your doing so may be a more intimate union with 
the Saviour than you have ever had before — it may 
cause you to abide more intimately with Him, and the 
Saviour to abide more intimately with you." 

Address at the Table. — Our Saviour said, " The 
Sabbath was made for man.'" In the spirit of this 
observation, we say, " Man was not made for the 
sacraments, but the sacraments for man." What is 
the character of this day's transaction? You have 
accepted of Jesus Christ, but no man truly does so 
unless he submits to him as his Lord and Master. 
You are no longer at liberty to live unto yourselves. 
Go not to disgrace the profession of the gospel — go 
with the firm resolution of being all that Christ wishes 
you, and doing all that he bids you. 

Wednesday, Mth November 1832. — At Dr Chal- 
mers's introductory lecture as Professor of Theology 
in the University of Edinburgh — session 1832-33. 
In his preliminary prayer, he said, — Do Thou reveal 
to our awakened consciences the importance and the 
greatness of eternity. Enable us to connect our pre- 
sent labours with an awe and a wholesome feeling 
regarding the Christianity of future generations." 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 195 



Butler, said Dr Chalmers, is the Bacon of theo- 
logy, whilst they both, perhaps, participate in the 
same errors and infirmities with Lardner, Paley, 

Littelton, and West The documentary evidence of 

the gospel story, when taken in connexion with the 
philosophy of Bacon and Butler, gives a strength to 
the historical argument for the truth of Christianity, 
which is not sufficiently recognised. Disciples as we 
are of Lord Bacon in science, we delight to dwell on 
the emphatic weight the same philosophy gives to the 
evidences of Christianity . . . the professor can only exe- 
cute the brief. . . the Bible is a book of rich and original 
phraseology — of metalUc weight. 

The alleged obscurity of John Foster, for ex- 
ample, is not an indictment against Foster, but on the 
English language, which is too obscure for his mighty 

conceptions We have heard this author compared to 

Grecian architecture The works of the author of the 

Natural History of Enthusiasm, are replete through- 
out with original and sound theological principle. 

The internal or experimental evidences of Chris- 
tianity can achieve the Christianisation of multitudes, 
which the historical evidence cannot. It admits the 
intervention of the Spirit — a doctrine so revolting to 
many. , . , He illuminates by the Word. He holds no 
direct converse with man, but casts a hght over the 
Bible, by which he arrives at the conclusion, that 

the Word is from the Deity There is a harmony in 

the argument, that proves God to be the author of 
the Word, and the argument of natural theology, that 



196 REMINISCENCES OF BR CHALMERS. 

God is the author of the world. This volume — the 
Bible — serves to medicate all the disorders of the 

world The external appearance of a letter may 

establish its authorship. ... In the Bible, the very 
fountain of inspiration, there is to be found a direct 
radiance from God. 

I directed you, said Dr Chalmers, last season, to 
what I may call the Bibliography of the Bible— 
Home's Introduction, The magnitude of our theme 
is such, that, without a partitioning of labour be- 
tween the professor and the students, we could not 
get on. It becomes you with great general scholar- 
ship to unite the deepest sacredness. . . . There are, 
again, men of piety and prayer who cry down learn- 
ing. We would have the research of the former, 
without their coldness — and the piety of the latter, 
without their jealousy. We would have such men as 
Fenelon and Jonathan Edwards in the profession, and 
such men as Pascal and Robert Boyle out of it. 

My text-book for you is Hill's Lectures. 

I have to announce to you the extra lecture for each 
Friday ... It is well to be prepared to meet the contests 
which, in all probability, await you. In seasons of 
heated and headlong effervescence, reason is not lis- 
tened to. . . . There are moral hurricanes when even the 
lights of history are lifted up in vain. At such a tran- 
sition period, the sage lessons of history are not listened 
to, but principles are interminable. It is not a word 
from the academic chair, but it is with the immuta- 
bilities of truth we have to deal. There is no Utopian- 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



197 



ism in expecting a gradual change and improvement 
in society — it will be made out by a summation of 
particulars. . . Education pervading every city mass . . . 
the effect will be gigantic, but without any giant hav- 
ing to do with it. It was thus that Bernard Gilpin 
reclaimed the wilds of Northumberland. . . . The adapta- 
tion of Scripture to the wants and faculties of the 
human mind — the adaptation of nature to the moral 
and intellectual constitution of man — the wisdom and 
goodness of God ; — to my cost, I find few authors, ex- 
cept Butler, have touched on these. 

Thursday, 15th November 1832.— At Dr Chal- 
mers's second lecture at the Divinity Class. He has 
a good many non-professional students this session. 
His lectures, like his pulpit discourses, elevate the 
mind, and are a great moral and intellectual feast. 
This day he was on the past eternity of God. He re- 
marked, that it was a subject inscrutable to man — we 
can never reach the fountain-head of duration. View- 
ing the Deity in relation to space, is as difficult as in 
relation to time. . . . Theology has her unsearchable 
hiding-places. ... In former ages, Christianity received 
her deepest contamination from her alliance with phi- 
losophy There is a beautiful harmony between a 

sound philosophy and a sound faith . . . there is a tran- 
sition space between natural theism and revelation — 
where it is only darkness visible. . . . The peasant can- 
not ascend to the heavens, and draw down from its 

cycles the evidence of a God The felt supremacy 

of conscience, perhaps, gives at once the idea of a 



198 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



God Like the Im^id gleam of a volcano, natural 

theology only prompts the question — it does not give 
sight of a revelation to hush the fears of guilty man. 
. . . He will not bid you turn from heaven's meridian 
splendour to worship the tiny lustre of a glow-worm. 
, . . The longing and unsated appetencies of nature are 
as impellants to inquiry. 

Saturday, 29th December 1832. — Dr Chalmers 
published a new pamphlet, entitled, The Supreme 
Importance of a Right Moral to a Right Economical 
State of the Community ; with Observations on a re- 
cent Criticism in the Edinburgh Review,'' 

Dr Chalmers's work on Pohtical Economy, though 
it was published at a period remarkable for political 
agitation, attracted greater attention in the literary 
world than had been generally anticipated; for nothing 
proceeding from his pen could be devoid of interest. 
It was criticised with very opposite opinions by the 
most prominent periodicals of the age. The British 
Critic, in an able article, supported almost all his views. 
The Quarterly Review attacked him for his Malthu- 
sian discipleship ; but the Edinburgh Review — whilst 
a powerful advocate of the doctrines of Malthus, and 
after having already admitted Dr Chalmers as a con- 
tributor to its pages, in support of his enlightened 
views on pauperism* and public charities— had re- 
viewed his work, differing widely from many of his 

* Vide Edinburgh Revieiv, Nos. 55 and 58 ; both of wMcIl contain 
able articles by Dr Chalmers on Pauperism. They appeared in 1817 
and 1818. 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



199 



conclusions. It was this article that now roused the 
lion from his lair. Their reasoning was somewhat 
slight and superficial; and in this pamphlet he con- 
futed them with considerable success and power. He 
thought that a great error of his reviewer lay in 
imagining that there had been a rapid and remarkable 
economic advancement of the people of Scotland with- 
out the influence of a better education, and that espe- 
cially during the present century." — Xow/*' said Dr 
Chalmers, "''in this later period, if the circumstances 
of oui^ peasantry have experienced a change at all, 
they have suffered a decline; or, at least, if stationary, 
this is the best which can possibly be said of them. 
All the testimonies which the reviewer has quoted in 
support of his reasonings on this point, refer to the 
latter half of the last centurv, when Scotland did ex- 
perience one of the most sudden transitions that ever 
took place in the internal economy of a nation; but 
such a transition as, instead of being unfavourable or 
adverse to any theory of ours, is most strongly and 
strikingly corroborative of all our views. The truth 
is, that Scotland, during that brief period, and within 
her own narrow Hmits, exhibited in epitome the great 
movement which took place in Europe between the 
middle and the modern ages. In a single generation, 
she may be said to have run the history of two cen- 
turies. The sudden start taken by her population, 
when the capabilities of her soil began to be unlocked, 
aft^r the rebellion of 1745; the almost impetuous 
career of her agriculture, and, commensurate with 



200 



REMINISCENCES OF DK CHALMERS. 



this, the improvement which took place in the habits 
and condition of her peasantry ; the awakening of the 
people from sloth to labour; the gradual augmenta- 
tion of this labour to the present times, when the hus- 
bandry of our land begins to feel the impediments of 
its so much nearer approach to the extreme Umit, and, 
along with this, our labourers begin to feel the im- 
pediments of a stationary and straitened condition." 
He stated, that the competition of labourers, agricul- 
tural as well as commercial, in this country, was such 
as to aggravate their labours into a cruel and oppres- 
sive bondage — the cultivation of their mental and 
moral welfare is consequently neglected, and the cha- 
racter of our population sinks. 

Dr Chalmers was very happy in the evidence he 
here brought forward of the great demoralization and 
degradation of the population of Manchester and 
Paisley, since the moral and religious education of 
their children had been neglected by the employ- 
ment of their early years in constant and fatiguing 
labour. The manners, the habits, the enjoyments of 
the people, have all sunk since this took pla^ ; and well 
might he argue against " the magnitude of that labour 
by which all the higher feehngs and faculties of the 
mind are overborne, and man is degraded into an 
animal, or, rather, into a mere piece of living enginery ; 
where the vital principle may be regarded but as the 
m-oving force — the bones and muscles as the levers and 
traces of a peculiar mechanism." ^ 

Thus all Dr Chalmers's arguments were in favour 



REMIXISCEN'CES OF Dxl CHALMERS. 



201 



of reduced hours of labour, and the introduction of a 
higher moral, intellectual, and rehgious education 
among the people — a consummation most devoutly 
to be wished for." 

Wednesday, 20th March 1833. — Dr Chalmers's 
and Dr Doyle's Evidence on the State of Ireland pub- 
lished. They are A'aluable as throwing light on the 
vexata questio of the best mode of governing that 
lovely country, for which nature has done so much, 
and man so httle — except for evil ! The establishment 
of compulsory poor-rates Dr Chalmers has always 
deemed mischievous. 

Friday, 29th March 1833.— Met Dr Chalmers at 
a dinner party at Professor Welsh's, on the breaking 
up of the winter session at the University. Among 
other subjects discussed, was the local question of the 
Edinburgh xinnuity Tax — a vexatious and anomalous 
mode of paying the Edinburgh clergy from a general 
impost of six per cent on tenants. It was admitted 
that the Established clergy were apt to have an esprit 
de corps in favour of this tax. 

Thursday, 16th May 1833. — Dr Chalmers preached 
before the General Assemblv as then* Moderator, in 
the High Church of Edinburgh. It was the same 
admirable and striking discom^se of which we have 
given notes under the date of 9th October 1831; but 
the sermon was so excellent, that repetition at the 
interval of nearly two years did not mar its effect. 

Thursday, 23d May 1833. — Heard Dr Chalmers 
dehver a briUiant speech in the General Assembly on 



202 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



Patronage and Calls. He concluded with the following 
motion ; — and, to those who are not famihar with the 
meaning of the technical term " Call/' the words of the 
motion will make it intelligible: — " That the General 
Assembly, having maturely weighed and considered the 
various overtures now before them, do find and declare, 
that it is, and has been ever since the Reformation, a 
fixed principle in the law of this Church, that no minis- 
ter shall be intruded into any pastoral charge contrary 
to the will of the congregation; and considering that 
doubts and misapprehensions have existed on this im- 
portant subject, whereby the just and salutary operation 
of the said principle has been impeded, and, in many 
cases, defeated, the General Assembly further declare it 
to be their opinion that the dissent of a majority of the 
male heads of families resident within the parish, being 
members of the congregation, and in communion with 
the Church at least two years previous to the day of 
moderation, whether such dissent shall be expressed 
with or without the assignment of reasons, ought to 
be of conclusive effect in setting aside the presentee 
(under the patron's nomination), save and except 
where it is clearly estabhshed, by the patron, pre- 
sentee, or any of the minority, that the said dissent is 
founded in corrupt and malicious combination, or not 
truly founded on any objection personal to the pre- 
sentee, in regard to his ministerial gifts or qualifica- 
tions, either in general, or with reference to that par- 
ticular parish ; and, in order that this declaration may 
be carried into full effect, that a Committee shall be 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



203 



appointed to prepare the best measure for carrying 
it into effect accordingly, and to report to the next 
General Assembly." There was a small majority 
against Dr Chalmers's motion. 

Friday, 12th July 1833. — Dr Chalmers's Bridge- 
water Treatise published, — On the Adaptation of 
External Jfature to the Moral and Intellectual Consti- 
tution of Man." Its origin was this : — The Earl of 
Bridgewater died in February 1829, and directed 
£8000 to be invested in the public funds, and held at 
the disposal of the President of the Royal Society, to 
be paid by the person or persons nominated by him, 
to write, print, and pubHsh, one thousand copies of a 
work — On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, 
as manifested in the Creation; illustrating such work 
by all reasonable arguments — as, for instance, the 
variety and formation of God's creatures in the ani- 
mal, vegetable, and mineral kingdomis; the effect of 
digestion, and thereby of conversion ; the construction 
of the hand of man; and an infinite variety of other 
arguments; as also by discoveries, ancient and modern, 
in arts, sciences, and the whole extent of literature." 
Davies Gilbert, Esq., President of the Royal Society, 
requested the assistance of the Archbishop of Canter- 
bury and the Bishop of London; and they appointed 
Dr Chalmers to write this, one of eight separate trea- 
tises on the different branches of the subject. 

Sabbath, 29th September 1833. — At Corstorpliine 
Church, near Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers preached 
on Jeremiah, 6th chapter, 14th verse — They have 



204 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people 
slightly, saying, Peace, peace ; when there is no 
peace." He said — If we meet few people who live 
in hope of a coming glory, we meet as few who live in 
fear of a coming wretchedness. . . . This is the general 
habit of worldly men with regard to eternity — they 

look to neither term of this big alternative We 

charge them with a false tranquillity. What remedy 
does the gospel state, as necessary for the cure of this 
disease ? The man is not agitated about those things, 
because he does not think of them ... he is wholly taken 
up with what is near him and about him in the visible 
world ... so taken up with the din and daylight of this 
busy world, that he can forget Him who made the 
world. His affinities are all to the creature — he thus 
lets go the Creator. He lets sense have the ascend- 
ancy over spirit The panorama of this world is the 

intercepting screen. He lives in peace, and placid 
oblivion of the Deity . . . there is a lethargy and listless- 
ness of the human spirit. ... It is not that we are dead 
to the future, for it is the future adventure that ex- 
cites us ... we are alive to the intermediate distance 

between us and death There is a fitful and unsettled 

dream — there is a deep sleep upon our world ... which 
even incessant changes do not awaken us from . . . there is 
a torpor of the human soul about death. W^e go from 
business to burials, and back again — having trod, as 
it were, on the confines of the world. ... Of the spell 
that binds a man to earth, nothing can disenchant 
him — another power superior to nature must be put 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



205 



over him. . . . Nought that is present can bring a soul 
out of its slavery to time . . . nothing here will germi- 
nate the life of faith. . . . There is need of the might and 
the mystery of another agent. . . . This convinces us of 
the truth of the doctrine of regeneration. . . . The 
Spirit of God may lend the efficacy to argument, 
which argument itself could never exercise. The de- 
monstration of the Spirit may be given to the state- 
ment of the preacher; and, if urged on by a visitation 
of msdom from above, the crust of earthliness may 
have a breach made on it, and the wretched child of 
this world be awakened from the spell of sense. Oh, 
think of the speed and certainty with which death 
approaches ! Though the transparency be dim that 
separates your horizon from eternity, yet, be assured, 
joy and sorrow is beyond it. As well might you ex- 
pect a ship unguided by compass or by helm shall 
reach her port, as that a soul left to chance shall make 
a prosperous voyage to eternity. . . . The peace of na- 
ture I believe to be more due to insensibility than to 
error — it is altogether a negative tranquilHty. ... It is 
the unconcern of a man who is bhnd or asleep ... he 
may be dogmatised into the right orthodox}^ ... he may 
have a notional conception of what is theoretically 
right. All the articles of doctrinal theology will not 
move out of his inertness the man who is not moved 
out of his earthliness. They are sowing to that, of 
which a few years will make a mockery — labouring 
for a part of this world's substance, and verily they 
shall have their reward. . . . Perhaps they will have 



206 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 

their little hour of this world's magnificence. The 
tower may stand . . . but death will find its way to the 
inner apartment. Thus death smiles with ghastly 
contempt on human aggrandisement — he forces man's 
body to the dust ; and, in turning the soul out of its 
well- warmed tenement, it sets it adrift upon a desolate 
and cheerless eternity. The Spirit of God lays hold 
of a gospel truth, and it is thus the instrument work- 
ing on a man's mind ; . . . though every doctrine may be 
received by the understanding, and remain torpid. . . . 
There are some doctrinal errors that have the influ- 
nece of opiates ... a meagre and superficial sense of 
guilt is the chief of these. This is one of the most 
fatal ministers to their false peace. They think that 
preachers talk to them in an exaggerated tone of the 

coming vengeance For a man to be execrated in 

society as a monster, he must have outraged the rela- 
tionships of life ; yet there is a relationship which 
even the mild man may have outraged — his relation- 
ship to the Creator. The men of our planet have broken 
off their affinity to God — they have yet a terrestrial 
ethics, in which some shine, while others are marred and 

mutilated even in these Human nature, with all her 

complexional varieties of character, may yet agree in 

a practical indifference about God The creatures of a 

fleeting and fantastic day, we tread on earth with as 
assured a footstep as if we were to be ever here . . . and 
the song and the laugh shew us locked fast to this 

world The awfulness of death bears experimental 

proof of God's intolerance of sin. If God were as 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS, 207 



placid with the sins of men as man is placid with him- 
self, why keep up such a hostile dispensation as death ? 
That is no trifle which has made this world one vast 
sepulchral scene, with its moaning deathbeds and 
broken companionships. 

Sabbath, 6th October 1833. — At Liberton Church, 
near Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers preached in aid of the 
East India Missions and Assembly Schools, on 2d 
Corinthians, 4th chapter, and 2d verse — But have 
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walk- 
ing in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceit- 
fully ; but, by manifestation of the truth, commending 
ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of 
God." He remarked, that there is a learned way of 
ascertaining the truth of the evidence of Christianity. 
It is well that infidelity should have been cast down 
from the higher places . . . the march of intellect is but 
a superficial and half-formed philosophy. Society may 
be heaving to a higher position, but the throes of the 

transition state are dangerous But there is another 

evidence of the doctrine which makes direct way of 
itself . . . there is a way by which the substance-matter 
of the Bible is brought home to the simple cottager, and 
that not by the exercise of simple credulity ... a reader 
and a Bible is all that is necessary, and the applica- 
tion of the one to the conscience of the other. The 
Bible tells him of the secrets of his nature and liis 
heart. ... Is there any way by which the men of our 
day can be made to perceive the truth of the gospel, 
as if they had heard the Saviour or the apostles ? If 



208 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 

by reading, then, a preacher has only to expound the 
truths of the Bible ; — he may tell them of the world's 
vanity, and they will feel its truth — he may speak of 
the high state and dignity of the Lawgiver . . . thus the 
truth pours on their minds in accumulated evidence of 
the salvation offered by that mysterious personage 
who came to seek and to save. A man may thus be 
translated from the darkness of nature to the light 

and the liberty of the children of God So, with the 

secrets of his heart thus laid open, he falls prostrate, 
and worships God. . . . Take away from us the self- 
evidencing power of the Bible, and you lay an inter- 
dict on the Christianity of the cottage and of crowded 
cities; deny us this evidence, and you obliterate the 

Christianity of the land If the truth of the Bible 

were not plainly stamped on all its pages, then would 
Christianity be for ever shut up from the majority of 
our people. . . . The manifestation of the truth to the 
conscience is the evidence we speak of. Whether do 
we see the truth immediately or mediately ? The 
cottage patriarch has the Flavels — the Guthries — the 
Richard Baxters of a puritanic age . . . theirs is the 
Christianity of rational belief. In the old time of the 
psalmody of all our cottages, they constituted the real 

strength and glory of the Scottish nation What 

gives conclusive effect to this evidence is, the revela- 
tion of the Spirit . . . this is given by shining on the 
truths themselves, so as to make them palpable to the 
understanding. He takes away the veil from our 
hearts, and reveals to us the truth as it is... the tran- 



REAnNISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS, 



209 



sition made by his own miiid becomes another evi- 
dence of the truth. Cowper's hnes, comparing the 
cottager and Voltau'e, are beautiful : — 

She, for her humble sphere by nature fit, 
Has little imderstanding, and no wit, — 
Receiyes no praise ; but, though her lot be such, 
Toilsome and indigent, she renders much ; 
Just knows, and knows no more, her Bible true — 
A truth the brilliant Frenchman never knew ; 
And in that charter reads with sparkling eyes 
Her title to a treasure in the skies." 

The human mmd and the Bible are the instruments 
with which the missionary has to work. Wherever 
there is a human being, there is a conscience; and on 
this ground alone can the missionary go to every 
region of the world. The first missionaries went to 
Greenland^ and they expatiated on preliminary infor- 
mation — this failed. They, mortified, chano-ed their 
course, and spoke the truths of the Bible m the 
Bible's own words ; and pleasant to the hearers 
were the preacher's words, when he told that to 
them was a Saviour born. . . . AVe now behold men 
amid the desert wilds, as if by miracle, changed 
and converted. Whether should the fii^st attempt be 
to humanise or to Christianise ? . . . Civihsation waits 
with attendant footstep on Christianity. , . . The very 
youngest of you knows, that if you are not previously 
cut short by death, manhood will come — the corpse 
will be laid — the coffin will come — the spreading of 
the sod will come. This truth is manifest to the con- 
sciences of you all. You may have thought Uttle of 

o 



210 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



it, but I call on you to think of it now. My message 
is to tell you of what more will come ; — the time of the 
spirit retui^ning to God will come — the day of reckon- 
ing will come — the opening of the books will come — 
and the passing of that sentence that will fix you for 
ever, will come — if you refuse to be reconciled to 
Christ. If charged with the ungodhness of your 
hearts, your consciences feel the truth of it. Is not 
heaven a land of shadows to you, and God out of your 
thoughts? You go about your business and your 
families almost as if you thought there was no God at 
all. You never think of what is God's wiU; you are 
a self-moving, a self-regulating creature. He has made 
you — given you faculties of enjoyment — now you are 
content, as it were, to manage without God. This — 
practically and really this — is the state of nature to- 
ward God. It is substantially a state of atheism. . . . 
Repent now ; for the oftener you refuse the calls of the 
gospel, the harder do your hearts become. Prosecute 
the question of your eternity as a matter immediately 
on hand. You will not see God in that aspect of gra- 
ciousness that belongs to him, tiU you do so by the 
demonstration of the Spirit. He does all that tender- 
ness can devise to do away all suspicion— he offers 
you reconcihation as a gift — he knocks at the door of 
your hearts. He set up the costly apparatus of re- 
demption, rather than lose you for ever; he sent his 
own Son to pour out his own blood for you. Now 
there is nothing to intercept the flow of friendship to 
you from God; it comes down to you full and clear as 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



211 



the light of day. The good-will offered is not to some 
— it is generally, to man, I would cheer all on to 
this, simply and virtually as being men. Sure I am, 
these offers cannot aho:ht wrono*. I know vrell the 
scruples of the disconsolate, and how a perverse me- 
lancholy can find grounds for despair. M[ the indivi- 
duals of all famihes are invited to accept of His mercy, 
which rejoices over all. The unbelief of man is the 
only obstacle in its way. There is something in Christ's 
gospel to meet all cases — Look unto me, all ends of 
the earth." The call is to all — if not listened to, it is 
not want of freeness in the call. ... I want to woo you 
into confidence — I want to whisper peace to yom' souls. 
. . . . I am commissioned to tell you of God's good-will 
to all — and all you want is good-will to Him. Be- 
Heve, and ye shall be saved." Turn ye, turn ye, 
why will you die?" Such a tone and such a tender- 
ness has God, as I cannot speak in. . . . Instead of 
yielding to the true God, ye humble yom'selves before 
a god of your own imagination. 

Sabbath, 3d November 1833. — Sacramental Sab- 
bath in Edinburgh. Dr Chalmers officiated in St 
George's Church for Mr Martin, who was in Italy 
on account of his health. His text was from First 
General Epistle of John, 4th chapter, 16th verse — 

God is love." It was a beautiful and edifvino^ dis- 
course. He remarked, that the general conception of 
men is not that God is love — it is that He is displeasure 
— that He is somehow offended with man. The first 
reason for this is, that whenever placed within the 



212 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



power of an unknown being, the uncertainty gives 
dread. . . . The sight of a stranger or an unl^nown 
animal gives us a recoil — so a child's fear of a stran- 
ger, or savages at the sight of an unknown ship — a 
known power, whose purposes are unknown. The 
government of the Almighty is a government which 
comprises an infinity of worlds, and extends to an 
infinity of ages .... clouds and darkness are about 
the pavilion of His residence .... we can obtain no 
distinct apprehension of His personality. There is 
a mighty gulf of separation — there is a barrier which 
man, with all his powers of searching, cannot pass, 
and from which God for many ages has sent forth no 
message. Now exiled from His presence, man trembles 
at His name, and a dread is the only homage which he 
renders to an unknown God. Although the beauty of 
the landscape shews a kind God, yet the angry tem- 
pest and the flood, and the thunder — ^the cares and 
heart-burnings — the fierce contests, even unto blood, 
of rebellious man — and, last of all, the death that 
sweeps all, and lays all varieties of fortune in the dust — 
seem to make a profound, a hopeless enigma ; . . . . and 
distrust will continue as long as ambiguity hangs over 
the character of the Deity. This can only be dispelled 
by God being brought nigh unto us. . . . It is one of 
the doctrines of the New Testament that can alone 
dissipate it. . . . God manifested in the flesh, descended 
on Jerusalem. . . . They saw the Son, and in Him they 
saw the Father also. . . . He was thus brought within 
the ken of man. We could not go in search of 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



213 



the viewless Being into the depths of infinitude ; but 
when the Son descended on the platform of this world 
— when He came to seek and to save — His were accents 
of tenderness — His very remonstrances were kind and 
gentle — the longings of a kind heart — of Him who 
w^ept over Jerusalem. Knowing that the Son is like 
the Father, let us re-assure our hearts that God is 
love. . . . Xo man has seen God. . . . The voice of 
the thunder is awful, but not so awful as fancy makes 
the unseen God. Is God more present to you in the 
beauty of spring, or in the blast that sweeps the forest 
leaves in winter ? . . . . Jesus Christ has Hfted up the 
mysterious veil, or rather. He has entered within it. 
.... We see the kindness of the Father in the tears 
that fell from the Son at the tomb of Lazarus. As 
His body retained the impression of His sufferings, so 
His mind retains its sympathy with us — its tenderness 
and fellow-feeUng for us ... . and we can repose on 
Him. . . . Tou grow in the knowledge of God as you 
grow in the knowdedge of Christ, We lose all sense 
of love in God as long as we view Him through the 
medium of our own troubled consciences. This is 
grounded on the ascertained knowledge that nature 
has of its own guiltiness. ... To Him w^ho is seated on 
the throne of the universe, we ascribe the virtues of 
the sovereign as well as the virtues of the parent — 
this is the theology of the conscience. It gives the 
fear of God, and tells him who feels it that it is a well- 
grounded fear. . . . Herein is love, that God so loved 
the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that 



214 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life; for God sent not His Son into the 
world to condemn the world, but that the world through 
Him might be saved." .... By the incarnation, a con- 
quest has been made over the imaginations of igno- 
rance; by the atonement, a conquest has been made 
over the fears of a guilty conscience. ... In the glo- 
rious spectacle of the cross, we behold justice vindi- 
cated. . . . The gospel of Jesus Christ is a halo of all 
the attributes of God. . . . The redemption of mankind 
was wrought out amidst agonies and cries — amid all 
the symptoms of a sore humiliation. . . . God so — mark 
the emphatic so — loved the world, that He gave up His 
Son to be the propitiation for our sins. . . . There is an 
awful depth of meaning and sentiment in this. ... It is 
like the sight of a volcano from a place of safety. . . . 
In the sacrament of the supper, fuU representation is 
given both of the incarnation'and of the atonement. . . . 
A believing meditation on these truths is perhaps the 
best exercise for communicants; — realising thus to your 
minds the love of God, it calls for grateful attachment 
and grateful obedience. . . . The sacrament of the sup- 
per gives, as it were, a shape and a body to these 
truths. . . . Your approach to the table gives a nearer 
view of God, and, by hkening you to God, makes you 
meeter for heaven. 

In fencing the tables, he said. His watchful eye is 
now on you, and can tell the state of the heai^t of each 
one who approaches the table — He can see who wants 
honesty of purpose, and steadfastness of principle. I 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



215 



would like you to submit yourselves to God's exami- 
nation — " Search and try me, 0 God!" Christ can 
take you along Avith Him in the survey He takes of 
that mysterious world that is in your own hearts. 
Your past sinfulness will start into view — the hurry 
and heedlessness of your past hfe — and whether you 
have had your faith in the Saviour. Your past sins, 
aggravated as they may be, still do not overmatch 
the power of the atonement ; but the atonement, be- 
fore it can be yours, must be received by you. Before 
the blood of Christ can be your propitiation, you 
must partake of that blood — you must not only have 
the purpose, but also the practice of obedience. . . . 
Sin may have raised a fearful obstacle in yoiu' hearts 
to the reception of Christ — it may have shot a kind of 
paralysis into the soul. You may have lost that spi- 
ritual unction you once had ; but the question does 
not turn on the aggravation of your sins — it turns on 
your present disposition. ... If the relapses into which 
you have fallen have not obliterated your sense of the 
great truths of the gospel — if, like sheep gone astray, 
you wish to return — if, when the fierceness of the 
spiritual storm has ceased, you have now a deeper 
sense of the hatefulness of sin — if you are undergoing 
a process of purification from sin in your own hearts 
—think not God has withdrawn His abhorrence of 
your sin, till you find that God has put the abhorrence 
of sin in your own hearts. . . . Those who have never 
met with anything to ring an alarm-bell in their con- 
sciences, are not aware that theirs is the sleep of spiri- 



216 



REMmSCEXCES OF DE CHALMERS. 



tual death — they inhale not one breath of the au^ of 
heayen upon earth. 

Address at the Table, — He who shares in the ordi- 
nances, also binds himself to obedience to the gospel. 
. . . There is a spirit to meet your hearts in all the 
exigencies of life. ... If you come to Christ, you will 
be purified as well as pardoned. . . . What is there here 
to darken or disturb the melancholy Christian — is it 
the bread or the wine ? . . . You deserve the vengeance ; 
but He bore it all, whether in the mysterious suffer- 
ings of the garden, or the cross. . . . Your ransom is 
abeady wrought out . . . the barrier to your acceptance 
lies not in your vows, but in your purposes. . . . By 
the unaided force of your own nature, you cannot be 
perfect. . . . There is a beautiful analogy, when it is 
said, Come to me, all ye that labour and are heavy- 
laden." . . . Come then to the tables . . . but you must 
leave sin behind . . . you must betake yourselves to one 
Master, whom you must follow. . . . Trusting for grace, 
neither the Spirit nor the sacrifice will fail you . . . but 
ye may fail, if not single-hearted towards God. ... It 
is because a dull-minded man wants to make a com- 
promise between two incompatible things. . . . You 
must not stop short at being almost, but try to be 
altogether, a Christian. . . . Perfection you can never 
reach, but it should be the goal at which you aim. . . . 
There may be a shortcoming of deed, but there should 
be no shortcoming of purpose . . . forming these high 
resolves, your life may be an unceasing progress. 

Sabbath, 10th Xovember 1833. — Forenoon, at St 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



217 



George's Church, Edinburgh, heard Dr Chalmers 
preach again on 1st John, 4th chapter, 16th verse, 
middle clause — God is love." It was, as it were, 
the sequel of the singularly powerful and original dis- 
course of last Sabbath. He set out with saying, that 
the Saviour is a palpable exhibition of the character 
of God to the human senses — a conjunction of mercy 
with truth and righteousness. ... A naked proclamation 
of mercy would never have set the conscience at rest. 
. . . Instead of love unimpeded, it was a love that had 

to force its way through a moral necessity The 

characteristics of God are unchangeable . . . the triumph 
of the attribute of love was thus greater . . . what effect 
it would have on the character of men, when the con- 
ception of God is changed to that of love ! ... It is not 
sufficiently enforced, that this love is personally appli- 
cable to each of us, instead of being viewed as a vague 
generality . . . the same as if an epistle were person- 
allv addressed to each of us, with our name on it. . . . 
The delusion of many, by which the gospel is bereft 
of all its significancy, is, that they think they should 
have some mark to make it applicable to them . . . 
whereas it is the other way — it would need a parti- 
cular warrant to justify them in thinking they were 
not specially included : — Look unto me, and be ye 
saved, all the ends of the earth." That, and many 
other similar passages take them in . . . the straiten- 
ing is only in their own narroiv — jealous— suspicious 
bosoms. . . . The light of the sun of heaven is not more 
accessible to all, than is the light of the Sun of righte- 



218 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



ousness ... it is commensurate with the species . . . may 
be urgently tendered to every individual of the human 
family. . . . Let us suppose that, with the tender of 
God's love on the one side, there is an acceptance on 
the other . . . the dim and impenetrable veil that had 
hitherto darkened the Divine character is withdrawn. 
. . . Only imagine a transition of this kind, to the mar- 
vellous light of the gospel . . . this would surely draw 

gratitude One of its functions is to justify . . . but a 

greater is to sanctify. . . . The new faith is the turn- 
ing-point of the character Let me know that God 

loves me, and, by a law of my mental constitution, I 
will love Him back again. . . . Let that faith be uni- 
versal, and we would have a regenerated world .... if 
it were as generally accepted as it is deUvered from 
our pulpits, we might have a nation born in a day. . . . 
If I want to light up resentment in my heart, let me 
think of the injury that provoked it ... or if I want to 
rekindle in my cold bosom the love of God, let me 

think of His love to me I cannot evoke this by 

looking inwardly to my own heart, but by looking up- 
ward to God. 

The way to call up your love of God is to think of 
His love to you, and to dwell on it. . . . Summon to the 
presence of your mind that object that will inspire the 
sensibility you are in quest of. . . . If you would only 
habituallv dwell on the love of God, then would the 
result be obtained — you would be on the highway to 
have habitually the love of God. 

That was a remarkable enunciation that was heard 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



219 



from the canopy of heaven — Glory to God in the 
highest, and on earth peace; good-will toward men." . . . 
It is to man . . . where it is to light, and to whose bosom 
it is to be the harbinger of peace, we know not ; but it 
is cast abroad, and offered to all. . . . The imbeUef of 
man is the only obstacle it has to struggle with. . . . 
Tell us not of the malignity of your disease ; it is the 
disease of a man. ... If the call is not listened to, it is 
the want of confidence in man . . . the minister is the 
ambassador of a beseeching God. ... If you think 
otherwise of God, you do Him injustice — you mantle 
one of the attributes of Divinity — you tremble super- 
stitiously before a god of your own forming. ... He 
does all that tenderness can devise to reconcile you . . . 
He offers you salvation as a gift — rather than lose you 
for ever, He sent His Son to save tou. . . . iS'ow that 
the weight of that heavy burden is removed, that 
restricted His kindness to you — it comes free as the 
hght of day, and rich as the exuberance of heaven 
on a despairing world. 

Tuesday, I2th November 1833. — At Dr Chal- 
mers's introductory lecture, in the Theological Class, 
University of Edinburgh. He remarked, that in 
England the study of the Christian e\ddences, and a 
certain acquaintance with the doctrines of our religion, 
is considered part of the education of the scholar 
and the gentleman. . . . Infidelity has been banished 
from the higher hterary walks since the days of 

Hume, and perhaps of Gibbon She has fallen to 

lower places; but the loss of one imperishable spirit 



220 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



is as great as another. ... On the one hand, we hke 
popular views to be presented to the pubhc ; but, on 
the other hand, we disapprove of popular courses for 
the college . . . these should be made by the prophets 
whom we send forth. . . . Without keeping up the learn- 
ing of the university, we will soon become a generation 
of little men. ... A popular course of Theology would 
do very well for the city, but not for the university 
hall. ... It is to extend knowledge from the learned of 
one profession to the learned of other professions. . . . 
An infidel professor might inoculate thousands of his 
students with his deadly virus, even by his influence, 
and the admiration in which he is held. ... It is well 
understood that superiority in one science gives no supe- 
riority in another. ... It is theology that has been held 
as a common for every one to tread on, and to hold 
their saturnaha. . . . None in modern times has turned 
his name to a more pernicious course than Laplace. . . . 
Butler was more philosophical than Laplace. . . . Did 
I want to be resolved of any doubt in any science, I 
would go to the most eminent in that science . . . but 
in theology this is inverted; and those who have most 
explored it are most distrusted. . . . There is now a 
most unpriestly domination, which amply retahates 
the priestly domination of other days. . . . Many of the 
sciences have been extended from the professional to 
the general education — such as chemistry, botany, and 
anatomy. ... In seasons of popular effervescence, a 
daring spirit of irreligion and infidehty is apt to pre- 
vail. . . . The present tendency to natural rather than 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



221 



to moral science renders it more desirable that the 
philosophy of Butler should now be laid open to the 
public. . . . This, of all ages, is the age of adventurous 
speculation. . . . The minds of men have broke loose. 
. . . . Our very newspapers teem with an eloquence 
and force that was not surpassed by the Spectators 
and Ramblers of another day. ... It is in an age of 
diffusion without depth that infidelity is apt to gain 
ground. ... It would be well if the voice of Butler and 
of Bacon could again be heard. 

Sabbath, 2Uh November 1833. — Dr Chalmers, 
wherever he was located, organised a sort of home 
mission, where he might be useful, by raising up a 
moral and religious influence in the neighbourhood. 
At this period his attention was attracted to a very 
destitute suburban village called the Water of Leith. 
He began to gather a congregation there. In the 
evening — ^heard him preach an impressive sermon to 
them in an old malt-barn or granary. This formed 
the nucleus of his future Dean Church. The scene 
was very interesting — to see this venerable man labour- 
ing earnestly among the common people, and they 
listening with delight to his homely, yet eloquent dis- 
course — what may be called his conversational preach- 
ing. His text was from Proverbs, 29th chapter, 1st 
verse — He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his 
neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without 
remedy." 

The literary distinction which afforded Dr Chalmers 
the highest gratification, was being chosen a Corre- 



222 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



sponding Member of the Royal Institute of France, in 
1833. This, the most distinguished hterary association 
in the world, and with which none but the most emi- 
nent names are ever associated, is divided into five 
academies, — the Academic Francaise," the '^Aca- 
demic des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres," the Aca- 
demic des Sciences," the Academic des Beaux Arts," 
the ''Academic des Sciences, Morales et Politiques." 
It was of the last that Dr Chalmers was chosen a 
Corresponding Member. Among the Foreign Asso- 
ciates were Malthus and Lord Brougham ; and Sir 
David Brewster's name appeared as a Corresponding 
Member along with that of Dr Chalmers. In fact, to 
use the language of the latter, at a period considerably 
pre^dous to his connection with this body, — they seem 
to choose as their foreign members, " only the few 
who, by dint of surpassing thought and genius, are 
fitted to extend the boundaries of any of the sciences." 

Thursday, 23d January 1834. — The local griev- 
ance of the Annuity Tax, to which we have already 
referred,* was discussed in the Presbytery of Edin- 
burgh. Dr Chalmers spoke at considerable length on 
the subject. The Magistrates of Edinburgh had put 
high scat-rents on the churches where popular clergy- 
men preached. He was opposed out and out to this 
system. He held that sittings in all the churches 
should be either free, or let at very moderate rates, 
for the benefit of the poor. After some observations 
on the annuity tax, he went on in an easy and jocular 
* Fic^e 29th March 1833, page 201. 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



223 



style to say : — Suppose, for instance, that Bishop 
Butler had fallen upon our day, and that he had been 
put up to auction by the Magistrates of Edinburgh — 
for I maintain that the present system is nothing more 
than putting up the ministers to auction ; — if that were 
the case, he would have fetched a low price — the sit- 
tings would have been got cheap — and, perhaps, he 
would scarce have drawn a congregation. . . . He would 
have been accounted a dull and heavy preacher, though 
his fifteen published sermons have given him an im- 
mortal rank among Christian authors. . . . We were 
met with the utmost cordiality and courtesy in this 
matter, on the part of the magistracy ; we had plenty 
of bowing and re-bowing. ]S'ow, I defer to the utmost 
to this complaisance and gentlemanly feeling; but it 
reminded me of a Glasgow story, relative to a Bailie 
Anderson, who resided there fifty years ago, and Lady 
Betty Cunningham. The Bailie happened to be an 
elder in the church of St Enoch's, and Lady Betty a 
hearer. One of Lady Betty's old servants had fallen 
into decayed circumstances, and applied to the Bailie 
for parochial relief. The Bailie said, Lady Betty 
should reheve her own servants, and dechned to ac- 
cede to her request. When this was told to Lady 
Betty, she retahated by going to church on the fol- 
lowing Sabbath, with the firm determination of putting 
nothing in the plate; and the Bailie happening to be 
officiating at the door, she made the most profound 
courtesy to him as she passed, and sailed magnificently 
up the centre of the church. The Bailie was at first 



224 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



SO much struck, that he stood aghast, and took a 
moment to recover himself. He then entered the 
church, and addressing Lady Betty in a voice so loud 
that the whole congregation might hear him, ^ Gi'e us 
less o' your manners, and mair o' your siller, my lady.' 
I would follow the Bailie's answer, did I not know 
that there is nothing more delightful than courtesy 
and urbanity. I would just say, in opposition to 
the Bailie, I want no abatement of this cordiality." — 
We have only here given a fragment of Dr Chalmers's 
speech as it regarded a local question ; but he spoke 
for several hours with a fervour and zeal that must 
have severely taxed his bodily energies; and the exer- 
tion was so great as to superinduce a very serious ill- 
ness — which excited great anxiety in Edinburgh; but 
in a few days he rallied. 

Tuesday, 4:th March 1834. — Dr Chalmers proposed 
to the Magistrates and Town-Council of Edinburgh to 
erect a church in a destitute locality, called the Cow- 
gate — thirty individuals subscribing £100 each to 
purchase the ground, and erect a church to hold 1000 
sitters — the parish to embrace 2500 souls, — the seat- 
rents to be very low, and any surplus to be devoted 
to schools. 

Tuesday, 18th March 1834. — The Magistrates and 
Town-Council appointed a committee of conference 
with Dr Chalmers and the other subscribers to this 
proposed new church ; but after a good deal of dis- 
cussion, the matter could not be arranged. He again, 
at a later period, entered a second time on the pro- 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



225 



posal of a plebeian church in the Cowgate ; but, in spite 
of his ardent zeal in the cause of the religious instruc- 
tion of the people, the proposition came to nought. 

Friday, 21st March 1834. — On each Friday, this 
session, Dr Chalmers had a special lecture at the Uni- 
versity, and this was the closing one of the course. 
He said there was a most important distinction be- 
tween two departments of a city clergyman's duties 
— the household congregational and the household 
parochial. This arises from his congregation consist- 
ing of a general audience, and not being residenters 
in the parish, as they ought to be. A dissenting minis- 
ter could seldom overtake his household duties — he can- 
not group together the famihes of his hearers. Philip 
Henry had experience in both ways ; and he states 
that he often sighed to be reinstated in a parochial 
territory. Generally speaking, a clergyman cannot 
overtake visiting the famihes of liis j)arish, where his 
hearers are not in the parish. Many a hard-working 
Edinburgh minister has never attempted household 
parochial duties. If he tries the territorial cultivation, 
he must give up his week-day visitations to his hearers 
—the visiting every household — save where the door 
is shut on him — attending every funeral — seizing on 
every case of sickness, as the golden opportunity of 
usefulness. A minister in a territorial district finds a 
general congregation hang like a mill-stone on him. 
He goes among them bereft of all that sacredness 
which Sabbath associations create with him who bap- 
tizes their children, and from whose hands thev re- 

p 



226 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



ceive the sacrament. Secular men may attribute 
this to the influence of the priesthood over the 
people ; but it lies much deeper — it may be called 
one of the features of the human constitution. A 
mighty moral change hinges on this merely mechani- 
cal operation . . . our present system is a grievous 
departure from the good system of the olden time. 
Let the residence of the minister be close to his 
assigned territory — let him cultivate their personal 
acquaintance — let this ripen into grateful feeling, 
and soon the very idea of his person and the sound 
of his name will be impUcated with all their kindest 
feelings ; and what a high moral ascendancy such a 
man may wield over a people to whom he is at 
once the pastor and the minister! Let next-door 
neighbours be supplied with one common subject of 
regard, and the same Sabbath discourse be addressed 
to each — let the children attend the same school 
through the week — the collective habit of the people 
will be on his side — the feeling of the vicinage will be 
with him. It was so in Edinburgh and other large 
cities at the commencement of Presbytery ; but a 
deep and a dense irreligion has stolen imperceptibly on 
the bulk of our city population. Ministers, each act- 
ing in his own appropriate vineyard, would exercise 
a tenfold power, compared with the present chance- 
medley system of general congregations, by which 
the ministers of Edinburgh are made to linger out a 
sort of fortuitous existence. — Chalmers said he 
considered his general hearers in Glasgow as inter- 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHAL^IERS. 227 

lopers, compared with those who belonged to the 
parish ; and any plan for humouring these general con- 
gregations at the expense of a general fund, he viewed 
as little else than sacrilege. He then referred to the 
Report of the Society of the Edinburgh Probationers, 
lately printed, which gave an account of their labours 
among the poorer classes, and which, he said, was 
deeply interesting, and corroborative of these views 
regarding the importance of the localising system. 
Dr Chalmers concluded his course by telhng his 
pupils, that if his hfe were prolonged to a green old 
age, it would be to him the beau-ideal of one of its 
summers to pass from one of their manses to another, 
and see them engaged in their useful and pious voca- 
tions. 

Thursday, 1st May 1834. — Dr Chalmers spoke 
at the meeting of the Presbytery of Edinburgh 
on the question of chapels of ease. Dr Gordon read 
a report, recommending the dividing of the West 
Kirk, or St Cuthbert's parish, into seven districts, 
with a population of a thousand to each, and erecting 
the chapels of ease into parish churches, with ma- 
nageable districts assigned them. The overture Dr 
Chalmers proposed was to the effect, that, before 
investing the ministers of chapels of ease with all the 
privileges of parochial clergymen, the General Assem* 
bly should take measures to have these chapels en- 
dowed with a sufficient provision for their pastors. He 
carried his motion. 

Tuesday, 27th May 1834.— At the General As- 



228 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



sembly, Lord Moncreiff moved, That it be declared 
that it is a fundamental law of this Ghurch, that no 
pastor shall be intruded on any congregation con- 
trary to the will of the people; and that, in order 
to carry this principle into full effect, the presby- 
teries of the Church shall be instructed, that if, on 
moderating in a call to a vacant pastoral charge, 
the major part of the male heads of families, mem- 
bers of the vacant congregation, and in full commu- 
nion with the Church, shall disapprove of the per- 
son in whose favour the call is proposed to be mode- 
rated in, such disapproval shall be deemed sufficient 
ground for the presbytery rejecting such person, and 
that he shall be rejected accordingly, and due notice 
thereof forthwith given to all concerned ; but that, if 
the major part of the said heads of families shall not 
disapprove of such person to be their pastor, the 
presbytery shall proceed with the settlement accord- 
ing to the rules of the Church ; and further declare, 
that no person shall be held to be entitled to disap- 
prove, as aforesaid, who shall refuse, if required, so- 
lemnly to declare, in presence of other presbyteries, 
that he is actuated by no factious or malicious mo- 
tives, but solely by a conscientious regard to the spiri- 
tual interests of himself or congregation ; and resolve, 
that a committee be appointed to report to an inte- > 
rim diet of the Assembly, in what manner, and by 
what particular measures, this declaration and in- 
struction may be best carried into full operation." 
Lord Moncreiff carried his motion, and thus esta- 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



229 



blished what was called in the Church of Scotland the 
Veto Act. 

Previous to this, patronage had been often carried 
with a high hand, and especially during the last cen- 
tury, instances frequently occurring of pastors being 
inducted into parishes where, from the want of a spiri- 
tual cha^racter in the minister, he was left to preach to 
almost empty benches, and dissenting churches were 
in consequence often erected in such localities. 

Wednesday, 28th May 1834. — Dr Chalmers ap- 
pointed Convener of the General Assembly's Commit- 
tee on Church Accommodation — a subject in which 
he took a deep interest, as affecting his plans for the 
Christian education and instruction of the people. 

Thursday, 19th June 1834. — Dr Chalmers issued 
a circular to many private friends, recommending a 
subscription for the increase of church accommodation 
in all those places where the number of the people 
had outgrown the means of religious instruction. 
The conclusion of this letter is couched in his usual 
emphatic style: — "In advocating this cause, we need 
be at no loss for the materials of a most pathetic ap- 
peal to the sympathies of the truly religious. For we 
can tell them of the spiritual destitution of many thou- 
sands of the families of Scotland. We can tell of 
I their week-day profligacy and Sabbath profanation. 
Even to the mere politician and worldly philanthro- 
pist, we can address the arguments that a depraved 
commonalty is the teeming source of all moral and all 
poUtical disorder, and the fearful presage, if not 



230 REMINISCETS^CES OF DR CHALMERS. 



speedily averted by an efficient system of Christian 
instruction, of a sweeping anarchy and great national 
overthrow. But it is when pleading for the claims 
and the interests of so many imperishable spirits that 
we are on our best, our firmest vantage ground ; and 
when assailing the consciences of the pious and the 
good, by the affecting representation of a multitude 
in our own land whom no man has yet numbered, who 
are strangers even to the message of the New Testa- 
ment — of that still greater multitude, who, with an 
eternity wholly unprovided for, live in irreligion, and 
die in apathy or despair/' 

Wednesday, 10th September 1834. — Attended the 
Statistical Section of the British Association at one of 
the class-rooms in the University of Edinburgh. Dr 
Cleland read a paper on the statistics of Glasgow. 
Some discussion arose on the success of Dr Chalmers's 
plans for the management of the pauperism of St John's 
parish when in Glasgow. A tribute was paid to his 
exertions and the benefits attendant on the course he 
had pursued. 

Thursday, 13th November 1834.— Dr Chalmers ad- 
dressed a circular to all the presbyteries of the Church 
of Scotland, inquiring the amount of church accom- 
modation — first the number of people in each parish, 
then the number of sittings in their places of worship. # 
To this circular he received about three hundred 
answers, which threw much light on the insufficient 
supply of religious instruction, both in the large cities 
and the country districts of Scotland. 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



231 



Tuesday, 17th February 1835. — Received the fol- 
lowing note from Dr Chalmers. We give it, as shew- 
ing the incessant acti^dty of his mind in regard to 
those questions affecting the religious instruction of the 
people, which occupied so prominent a place in his 
affections : — 

February 17, 1835. 

*'My Dear Sir, — Could I obtain a sight of that 
newspaper which contains in it the challenge about 
renting one of the Edinburgh churches ? — Yours most 
truly, ''Thomas Chalmers. 

''To John Anderson, Esq." 

Wednesday, 8th April 1835. — Dr Chalmers pub- 
lished a tract, entitled '' The Right Ecclesiastical Eco- 
nomy of a Large Town," in which he reiterates his 
views in favour of the territorial system, and procur- 
ing for the poor cheap and ready access to a church 
and mmister. 

Wednesday, 22d April 1835. — Dr Chalmers pub- 
lished a pamphlet '' On the Evils which the Estab- 
lished Church in Edinburgh has already suffered, and 
suffers still, in vh^tue of the Seat-letting being in the 
hands of the Magistrates." It had an extensive cir- 
culation, passing rapidly through four editions. — 
Called on Dr Chalmers to-night at his request; he is 
deeply interested and excited on these present Church 
discussions — matters which, though in one sense local, 
bore abstractly on his enlarged news for the ame- 



232 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



lioration of society. In order to enjoy a little physical 
and mental recreation, went over to Burntisland for a 
few days — an agreeable sea-bathing village on the coast 
of Fife, some miles north from Edinburgh — where he 
possessed a very pleasant summer residence. 

Friday, 1st May 1835. — Received the following 
letter from Dr Chalmers, in which he alludes to his 
preparations for the series of tracts he was then 
bringing before the public on these Church discus- 
sions: — 

BuRNTiSLANP, Ist May 1835. 

My Dear Sir, — I am greatly too indisposed for 
writing to hold out any confident prospect of another 
application to the press soon. . . . / find that I must 
take things easily, ... In addition to those I have 
already specified, I should like the paper containing Mr 
Abercromby 's * letter to Mr Adam Black f about the 
reduction of the Edinburgh clergy, as also the explana- 
tion of the latter at a subsequent meeting of council, 
of the quotation he had made at a former meeting 
respecting establishments having damned more souls 
than they had saved. ... I should be happy to hear 
from you any accounts of the controversy. ... I think 
Mr Clason's letter to BaiUe M'Laren is truly admi- 
rable. — I am, my dear sir, yours most truly, 

'•Thos. Chalmers." 

* Then M.P. for the city of Edinhurgli, and Speaker of the House of 
Commons ; now Lord Dunfermline. 

f Afterwards Lord Provost of Edinburgh. He had just written a 
pamphlet entitled The Church its own Enemy. 



REMINISCENCES OP DR CHALMERS. 



233 



Dr Chalmers prepared at this time a pamphlet 
which he entitled, Specimens of the Ecclesiastical 
Destitution of Scotland, in various parts of the Coun- 
try ; being Extracts of Correspondence and Results 
of Statistical Surveys in 1834-35. Printed for the use 
of the Church-extension Committees of the General 
Assembly;" in which he shewed the great want of 
church accommodation in various parts of Scotland. 

Dr Chalmers again left Edinburgh to enjoy country 
air and exercise, on a visit to the Earl of Elgin, at 
Broomhall, near Dunfermline, and we wrote to him 
as follows, regarding his proposed tract on Church- 
extension : — 

Edinburgh, ISth May 1835. 
My Dear Sir, — I herewith forward your MS. in 
proof. I am very much annoyed to find Balfour's 
people have set it in octavo instead of the same size as 
the other pamphlets. I have sent immediate word to 
alter it, as contrary to their instructions. ... Be so good 
as return the proofs corrected. ... I hope you are en- 
joying the country, and improving in health; and I 
am, my dear sir, yours, &c." 

The answer of Dr Chalmers is quite characteristic 
of the man, shewing his practical attention to the 
details of business, as well as his kind consideration 
for others : — 

" Broomhall, XUh May 1835. 
*^ My Dear Sir, — I am sorry to disappoint Mr 
Balfour ; but, as my present pubhcations will form a 



234 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALIVIERS. 



series, to be formed, it is likely, into an 18mo volume, 
it would be unfair to the purchasers, though only of 
the first five hundred, not to have my present pamphlet 
uniform with the rest. I regret the circumstance, but 
I see no other right way than altering the size to that 
of the two former tracts. But, as the workmen may 
have been misled bv the octavo size of the ^ Ecclesi- 
astical Specimens,' which was right enough, I am quite 
wilhng that the expense incurred by the additional 
work shall be charged upon me. May I beg no 
further delay, as I should like the thing out before 
the commencement of the Assembly ? I shall not want 
a revise here, provided you will have the goodness to 
take charge of the revises, and look carefully over 
them, especially comparing them with my corrected 
proof-sheets. I refer you to No. 2 ; and am, my dear 
sir, yours most truly, Thos. Chalmers. 

To John Anderson, Esq." 

His letter Wo. 2, bearing the same date, referred to 
another tract which— so incessant was the activity of 
his mind — ^he was preparing, as an answer to the 
pamphlet by Mr Adam Black. 

Dr Chalmers's next letter refers to a tract on Church- 
extension, and his postscript, or " Re-assertion of the 
Evils in the Edinburgh System of Seat-letting," both 
of which he had going on simultaneously ; and we give 
these letters, as illustrating his minute attention to 
correctness in details regarding his publications. 

We had called his attention to some excellent re- 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



235 



marks on Churches for the Poor, by Mrs Johnstone, 
the author of the beautiful tale of The Three West-* 
minster Boys."^ 

Broomhall, 21st May 1835. 
" My Dear Sir, — They are strikingly just remarks 
by Mrs Johnstone, in the Schoolmaster; and the 
paragraph respecting the Aberdeen church is very 
gratifying; but I had rather at present not subjoin 
either of them to my postscript, for which I shall ex- 
pect the proofs this week. — I am, my dear sir, yours 
most truly, Thos. Chalmers. 

To John Anderson, Esq." 

Thursday, 21st May 1835. — Dr Chalmers's pam- 
phlet on " The Cause of Church-Extension, and the 
Question shortly stated between Churchmen and Dis- 
senters in regard to it," pubhshed. 

Wednesday, 27th May 1835. — Dr Chalmers's tract, 
Re-assertion of the Evils in the Edinburgh System 
of Seat-lettmg, with Is'ew Proofs adapted to Recent 
Objections," pubhshed. 

Thursday, 28th May 1835. — At the General 
Assembly, Dr Chalmers, as Convener of the Com- 
mittee on Church Accommodation, read the Report of 
its proceedings. The subscriptions and donations 
received amounted to nearly £70,000, and about 130 
new churches are to be built. He stated that what was 

* See Nights of the Round Table, published by Oliver Boyd, 
Edinburgb. 



236 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



!required was the means whereby the lower classes 
might be reclaimed and humanised by the lessons of 
Christianity, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ 
might be preached without money to the poorest 
in the land. The name of the Committee was 
altered from Church Accommodation to Church-ex- 
tension, as more appropriate ; and the thanks of the 
Assembly were conveyed to Dr Chalmers for the 
talent and zeal he had displayed in his exertions in 
this cause. 

Wednesday, Sd June 1835. — Dr Chalmers embarked 
on board the " James Watt/' steamer, from Newhaven 
for London, accompanied by Mrs Chalmers and one of 
his daughters. The object of his visit was to watch 
the approaching debates in Parliament on the petitions 
for the extension and endowment of churches in Scot- 
land — a matter in which he had taken so deep an 
interest. He greatly enjoyed the voyage. There 
was a celebrated sporting senator on board — an honest 
free-and-easy sort of character. Dr Chalmers thought 
he would make an attempt to enlist him in the cause ; 
but he found him a man who could not enter into such 
a question, and who had an antipathy for clergymen. 
The consequence was, that he had to give up the 
attempt as hopeless, and remarked that the hon- 
ourable M.P. was just a rigmarole of words. The 
steamer on the voyage was struck by a brig, and a 
considerable alarm for the moment existed among the 
passengers, but little damage done. On arriving in 
London, Dr Chalmers went for a few days on a visit 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 237 



to that excellent and pious man, the Hon. and Rev. 
Baptist Noel, who has recently seceded from the Church 
of England. To be nearer the scene of action, Dr 
Chalmers went into lodgings at Cecil Street, Strand. 

During this visit to London, Sir Robert Peel invited 
Dr Chalmers to dine with him, but, wishing to live 
quietly, he respectfully dechned the invitation. From 
a conversation we had with Lord Brougham at this 
time, we know that he also appreciated the lofty cha- 
racter of Dr Chalmers. 

Thursday, 11th June 1835. — A debate in the House 
of Commons on the petitions from Scotland for Church- 
extension took place, and a motion was made to refer 
them to a select committee ; — the debate was ad- 
journed. The object wanted by Dr Chalmers was not 
churches for the rich, but for the poor — 

" Sucli jplain roofs as piety can raise^ 
And only open to their Maker's praise." 

Wednesday, 1st July 1835. — The subject was re- 
sumed in the House of Commons. Lord John Russell 
proposed an address to his Majesty, praying that he 
would be pleased to appoint a commission to inquire 
into the means of religious worship afforded to the 
people of Scotland, and how far they are available for 
the rehgious and moral improvement of the poor and 
working classes of the people. This was unanimously 
agreed to. Wliilst Dr Chalmers courted inquiry into 
the subject, he was apprehensive that this commission 
might be used as a means of shelving the question; 



238 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 

and, unfortunately, the gentlemen named on the com- 
mission were chiefly young lawyers, instead of there 
being a preponderance of intelligent men conversant 
with the business of Hfe and the best interests of society. 
Those appointed on Government commissions in Scot- 
land have too generally been young barristers — aspi- 
rants to official situations — who are apt to truckle to 
the ministry of the day. The commission was issued 
20th July 1835. 

Friday, 18th September 1835. — Spent the day 
with Dr Chalmers, at his pleasant retirement in the 
links of Burntisland. In the course of a delightful 
ramble along the coast, enjoyed an agreeable conver- 
sation with him — 

More sweet tlian odoiirs cauglit by Mm who sails 

Near spicy shores of Araby the blest — 

A thousand times more exquisitely sweet — 

The freight of holy feeling which we meet, 

In thoughtful moments, wafted by the gales 

From fields where good men walk, or bowers wherein they rest."* 

Among the cliffs he pointed out the spot where Alex- 
ander III., king of Scotland, was killed. The scenery 
here is beautiful. Dr Chalmers is sometimes so en- 
grossed with the thoughts of the inner man, that we 
were not without fear occasionally of his faUing over 
the cliff into the sea; and Mrs Chalmers said she 
sometimes had the same dread. He mentioned, m 
the course of the walk, that he has now had ten or 
twelve different residences, but that Burntisland is his 



* Wordsworth. 



KEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



239 



favourite. He consulted us about his plans for re- 
modelling some of his literary works. 

Wednesday, 30th September 1835. — Dr Chalmers 
dehvered a speech at the Commission of the General 
Assembly, detaihng the history of the late deputation 
to London on the question of church accommodation 
for the poor. In the course of it, he instanced the 
village of the Water of Leith, where, with a popula- 
tion of 1356, there were no less than 1070 individuals 
left unprovided with church accommodation. 

Wednesday, JAth October 1835. — Dr Chalmers's 
speech, to which we have just referred, was published, 
entitled, Speech on the Proceeduigs of the Church 
Deputation in London, during their last visit there." 

Wednesday, llth November 1835. — At Dr Chal- 
mers's introductory lecture, as Professor of Theology, 
University of Edinburgh. In his preliminary prayer, 
his language was, as usual, impressive above that of 
ordinary men. Among other expressions, he said, Thy 
years have no end, and thou art shrouded in the still 
more awful mystery of having had no beginning." 

He remarked to his students that this began the 
second year of their professional course. He said, I 
presuppose you to have imbibed the sphnt of Butler ; 
he is the Bacon of theology ; and perhaps they resem- 
ble each other also in their infirmities. 

He then alluded to the eloquent author of the 
Natural History of Entliusiasrri, who chose to remain 
still in mvsterious concealment, and, as it were, from 
the depths of a cavern issue his oracular statements. 



240 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



His writings, Dr Chalmers remarked, are of the school 
of Foster and Hall, and are refreshing to the mind 
amid the ennui attending every-day authorship. He 
said, you have now ascertained that the Bible is a 
message from God to this world — and it is an awfully 
interesting inquiry to you, to ascertain what it contains. 
The Fridays of that session, he announced, would be 
appropriated to the consideration of the best mode of 
the management of pauperism in the parishes of 
Scotland. 

Friday, 19th February 1836. — -Heard Dr Chalmers, 
at his class-room in the University of Edinburgh, 
deliver a lecture on Pauperism, in its practical work- 
ings. In the course of his prelection, he accidentally 
broke the gas shades beside him at the pulpit, and a 
ludicrous excitement was produced among the students, 
in which he heartily participated, by his immediately 
after the occurrence coming to a passage in his lecture, 
about ^' keeping away the disturbing force,*' 

Monday, Uh April 1836. — The last of Dr Chalmers's 
series of tracts connected with Church-extension pub- 
lished. He called it, " An Attempt to point out the 
Duty which the Church owes to the People of Scot- 
land." They were afterwards, as he had contem- 
plated, published in a collected volume. 

Thursday, 7th April 1836. — Called with Dr Welsh 
at Watson Gordon's, and saw the full-length portrait 
of Dr Chalmers, which is being executed. Watson 
Gordon* fell on a very ingenious mode of lighting up 

* Now Sir John Watson Gordon, President of the Scottish Academy. 



REMINISCENCES OP DR CHALMERS. 



241 



an agreeable smile on the face ; — he generally visited 
the Dean Church on the morning of the day on which 
Dr Chalmers was to attend at his studio, and, by di- 
recting the conversation to this subject — a favourite 
one with Chalmers — he obtained a lively and more 
pleasing expression of the countenance. 

Afterwards called with Dr Welsh on Dr Chalmers, 
at his house in Forres Street, and discussed the desir- 
ableness of Dr Welsh becoming a candidate for the 
Logic chair in the University of Edinburgh. Dr 
Welsh being possessed of a clear logical mind, and 
great metaphysical acumen, seemed peculiarly adapted 
for this professorship; and it was suggested to Dr 
Chalmers that, in the event of Dr Welsh getting the 
Logic chair, Dr Cooke of Belfast might ably fill the 
Church History chair. Dr Chalmers liked the idea, 
though unwilhng to part with Dr Welsh as his col- 
league. 

Sabbathj 15th May 1836. — This was ian interesting 
day to Dr Chalmers. He had, as we have already 
stated, made the destitute locality of the village of the 
Water of Leith and its neighbourhood his home mis- 
sion for a considerable time, and he had now seen his 
favourite church at Dean, a suburb of Edinburgh, 
near to the Water of Leith, completed — a neat, com- 
modious building, which he this day opened for public 
worship to a crowded audience ; the day was also re- 
markable as being the occurrence of an annular 
eclipse of the sun. He chose for his text Mark, 12th 
chapter, 37th verse, last clause — ''And the common 

Q 



242 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



people heard him gladly." It was one of his most 
effective practical discourses. He remarked that the 
soul of a poor man consists of the very same elements 
as the soul of a rich man. . . . They labour under the 
same disease, and need the same cure. 

After a series of powerful observations, at the close of 
the sermon he alluded to the striking natural pheno- 
menon which his audience were to witness within an 
hour. He said, what exhibition of the wonder-working 
God of nature cannot be turned to a practical account ? 
. . . He who has established such constancy in the works 
of nature, also gives us ground for equally certain re- 
liance on His word. . . . The annular echpse of the sun 
this day, is one of the rarest occurrences in nature — it 
leaves for four minutes only a small ring of the orb 

visible The marvellous thing is, that men can tell so 

certainly the very moment the darkness is to commence, 
but previous to man telling this with certainty, there 
must be a certainty of the unchangeableness of Him 
who made the sun. . . . The almanac of prophecy is as 
certain as the almanac of nature. — He referred his 
audience to the 89th and two following verses of the 
119th Psalm, for the certainty of God's word and 
works. . . . And when you look at the spectacle of this 
day, know, that as sure as it takes place, another day 
shall come, when the earth shall melt with fervent 
heat... what sort of persons then should we be?... we 
look for new heavens and a new earth, where right- 
eousness shall dwell. 

Monday, 23d May 1836. — Dr Chalmers read the 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



243 



Keport of the Committee on the Church-extension 
Scheme to the General Assembly. The sum he 
had obtained for this object during the last year 
amounted to £66,000. Among several instances of 
princely munificence, he mentioned the offer of an 
individual, who would not allow himself to be desig- 
nated otherwise than a " Merchant in the West of 
Scotland," to give twenty guineas to each of the first 
hundred churches built in connexion with the scheme. 
The thanks of the Assembly were unanimously voted 
to Dr Chalmers. 

JSabbath, 19th June 1836. — Afternoon, at Dean 
Church, Dr Chalmers preached with his usual vigour 
to a crowded audience, from 1st Corinthians, 7th chapter, 
29th verse, first clause — But this I say, brethren, the 
time is short." 

He said. In the churchyard you see graves of all 
dimensions. It is peopled more by young than old. 
Parents have oftener to weep over their children than 
the children to carry their parents to the tomb. 
The marvellous anomaly of our nature is, that there 
is an obstinately rooted antipathy to attending to this. 
. . . We are aU in a glow and bustle about the events 
that lie on this side of death, and blind to what lies 
beyond it. There is a deep sleep on the world, which 
the incessant changes we witness fail to awaken us 
from. Of the spell that binds man to earth, no 
charm can disentangle him. Near death he just hugs 
this world more closelv to his heart than ever. J^^o 
secondary cause is competent to awaken the human 



244 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



heart to faith. This confirms the truth of the doc- 
trine of regeneration. We should learn modera- 
tion in all the enjoyments of hfe. Eternity being 
viewed as a dream, is a proof of the heart being set 
on this world. Provision for our families is the rea- 
son we give for our anxiety about the world. We 
forget that they too are a family of immortals. We 
should remember how soon the high-flown scheme will 
end, and how soon time will outstep the Avhole calcu- 
lation. We should think how soon these bodies will 
be food for the creeping things of creation. Faith 
gives a firm texture to the soul, when athwart the 
dreary waste we see the day-star of immortahty. 
There may be the death of friends, or, what is still 
more insupportable, their desertion or their treachery. 
The great balsam for the wounded heart is the hope 
of immortality. This cheering hope is the grand 
medicine of the heart, amid all its bitterness. The 
next lesson is one of charity. A great deal more 
than one-half of the malignity in the world arises 
from keeping at a distance from others. It is gene- 
rally from a defect of explanation that quarrels arise. 
There is something in the thought of the coming 
death that should check this. If you could follow 
your enemy's disembodied spirit to where it stands 
before the eye of God — if you thought of this aright, 
would it not crush your hostilities, whether as mem- 
bers of a family or a country ? Suit, 0 God, the 
supplies of thy grace, to the respective wants of thy 
people ! We pray that thou wouldst fulfil thy own 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



245 



promise, that righteousness may run down our streets 
like a stream ; be the God and the guide of us all." 

Tuesday, 21st June 1836. — The subscribers to the 
Dean Church requested Dr Chalmers to pubhsh the 
sermon he preached on the opening occasion. He was 
at first rather averse to it, but at length agreed. 

On remarking to Dr Chalmers that we considered 
it one of liis best practical sermons, he said that it was 
one of his earUest compositions. It was published 
on 28th June, accompanied with a drawing of the 
church by Mr Gillespie Graham, architect. 

Sabbath, 3d July 1836. — Evening, at Dean Church, 
heard Dr Chalmers preach from Jeremiah, 6th chapter, 
14th verse. The church was crowded to excess. The ser- 
mon was the same we heard him deliver on Sabbath, 28th 
May 1826, at South Leith Church ; but it lost none of 
its emphasis and power, even on repetition. To shew 
the various classes of which his audience was composed 
on this occasion — there were many of the common 
people from the Water of Leith, for whose benefit he 
meant the sermon, whilst the Countess of Morton and 
her daughter were sitting on the stair of the pulpit. 

His language in the prehminary prayer was very im- 
pressive ; for example, Thine all-seeing eye no variety 
can bewilder. Surely it is a fearful thing to approach 
thee, and stand in the presence of the living God. 
We cannot grasp the counsels of that great Being, who 
moves all thino;s, and stays all tliino;s. Give us to 
know ourselves as the hopeless outcasts of a broken 
law ; and, seeing that the alternative is set before us, 



246 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



whether we shall be tried by our own righteousness 
or by the righteousness of Christ, may we embrace 
the offers of salvation in the gospel. Give us to honour 
the Son in all our approaches to the Father, and to 
cast our care and confidence on Him. Confer on us 
a present salvation, in delivering us from the power of 
sin. Unless on this side of death we acquire the cfta- 
racter of heaven, we shall not be fit for heaven. Grant 
that the demonstration of thy Spirit may conduce to 
the power of the word spoken." 

In order to render perspicuous some of the subse- 
quent statements regarding Mr Isaac Taylor being a 
candidate for the vacant chair of Logic in the Univer- 
sity of Edinburgh, we here insert a letter we ad- 
dressed to William Pickering, Esq., pubUsher, London, 
dated — 

" Edinburgh, Uth May 1836. 

" Dear Sir, — A great many of the most influential 
literary men here, since the Logic chair has become 
vacant, feel anxious that such an individual as the 
author of the Natural History of Enthusiasm should 
be promoted to it. As a man of powerful and original 
genius, I have always classed him with Chalmers and 
Foster ; and to have tivo such men as Chalmers, instead 
of one, would add lustre to our L'niversitv. Failino* 
him, Dr Welsh is considered the most desirable person 
to urge to take the chair. For a long time it has been 
understood among the literary circles that the author 
of the Natural History of Enthusiasm is one of the 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



247 



Taylors of Ongar, and really he need have no fear 
about casting away his umbra. He would be an 
acquisition to any college, and I hope he will be in- 
duced to come forward on this occasion — a man like 
him would do much good in the Logic chair." 

Mr Taylor, having been prevailed on to lay aside 
his visor, and come to Edinburgh at the urgent en- 
treaty of many of the most enhghtened men in the 
Modern Athens, as a candidate for the vacant chair 
of Logic, we wrote Dr Chalmers to Burntisland the 
following note : — 

Edixburgh, 6fk July 1S36. 

My Dear Sir, — I expect to have the pleasure of 
the company of Mr Isaac Taylor, the author of the 
Natural History of Enthusiasm, on Friday first, the 
8th instant, at five o'clock. Knowing that you have 
always felt a great admiration of his writings, I shall 
be glad if you can favour me with your company then 
to meet him. — I ever am, mv dear sir, vours," &c. 

Dr Chalmers's answer is interesting, from the 
anxiety he e\^nces to meet a man of kindi^ed genius, 
and also shewing that even then he had some premo- 
nition of his physical strength being weakened by his 
great mental exertions : — 

BuENTiSLAXD, ^th July 1836. 

" My Dear Sir, — I take it very kind that you should 
have invited me to dine with Mr Taylor ; and do ex- 
ceedingly regret that I am prevented by an illness 



248 



EEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



consequent on my last trip to Edinburgh, and to me 
an intimation that the time of my strenuous exertion 
is now gone by. 

I should like to know how long Mr Taylor remains 
in Edinburgh, for, if at all able, I should, if he please, 
have great satisfaction in making his acquaintance; 
and few things would gratify me and my family more, 
notwithstanding our present invahd state, than to have 
him, though but for a few hours, under our roof. — 
I am, my dear sir, yours most truly, 

" Thos. Chalmers. 

To John Anderson, Esq." 

Saturday, 9th July 1836. — Dr Chalmers's wish 
was gratified. Mr Taylor went over to Burntisland, 
delighted with the prospect of meeting Dr Chalmers 
for the first time. These kindred spirits spent the day 
together, and discussed many interesting and deep 
topics. Mr Taylor stated to us afterwards that he felt 
it was worth having come to Scotland, if for nothing 
else than to meet Dr Chalmers. 

Wednesday, 13th July 1836. — Prior to Mr Isaac 
Taylor being brought forward as a candidate for 
the Logic chair — Dr Welsh having declined stand- 
ing for it in opposition to an eminent literary friend 
of his own — Dr Chalmers had given a high recommen- 
dation to Mr Patrick C. M'Dougall.* A keen contest 
for this important academic chair had arisen, and 
among numerous distinguished men, it become evi- 

* Now Professor of Moral Pliilosopliy in tiie Free College, Edinburgh. 



REMmSCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



249 



dent that the contest ky between Mr Isacic Taylor 
and Su' ATilham Hamihon. A single vote was of 
consequence. \Ye therefore wrote as follows to Dr 
Chalmers on the subject : — 

" My Dear Sir, — Knowing the deep interest you 
take re^ardino- the Loo-ic chair, I write to inform you 
that since I saw Mr M'Dougall this forenoon, I have 
learned that, from some expressions of Mr M., the 
friends of Sir William Hamilton are now reckoning on 
his Tote. failino' Mr M'Douo-all : and as this, from the 
position of parties at present, is virtually giving his 
vote to Sir AYilham, it is of the utmost importance 
that an effort should be made to convince himx that 
Mr Tavlor and Mr M-Douo:all are candidates on 
the same great interest, and that o;iYiD^ his vote thus 
would be in reality evincino; hostiUty to that interest. 
I know yom^ mind will at once perceive the vast im- 
portance of preventing this alienation, and I am also 
persuaded that a strong letter from you, shewing that, 
failing Mr M'Dougall, whom he supports, it is of in- 
calculable importance to carry Mr Taylor, will have 

great weight with Mr M . To be of avail, what 

you write will need to be in course of post : and begging 
you will excuse tliis trouble, in haste, 1 am, my dear 
sir. vours,'*' &:c. 

The answer came with liis usual prompitude : — 

^' BuRNTiSLAitD, July lo, 1S36. 

My Dear Sir, — I have this evening written Mr 
M by Mr M'Dougall, who was with me to-day. 



250 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



Though I am not able to express in adequate language 
my conviction of the mighty importance to our univer- 
sity, that one of the two candidates, Mr M'Dougall or 
Mr Taylor, shall be appointed to the vacant chair, I 
have attempted it in the best way I could. 

" I can have no objections, if you think it right, that 
you reiterate this conviction in the hearing of Mr 

M— . It occurs to me, however, to say, that should 

Mr M'Dougall or any of his friends prefer not to give 
up till the day of election, but should incline rather 
that he should be brought forward to the vote, it were 
the wisdom of Mr Taylor's friends to acquiesce in this 
arrangement, provided always that a second vote shall 
be taken on the two highest. A respectable minority 
in favour of Mr M'Dougall publicly manifested at the 
Council Board might eventually be of advantage to 
him in future. — I am, my dear sir, yours very truly, 

" Thomas Chalmers." 

The election of Mr Isaac Taylor was lost by a narrow 
majority. Had he come forward when first urged, his 
carrying this important chair would have been certain. 
The great interest Dr Chalmers took in the appoint- 
ment arose from its being imperative on the theologi- 
cal students to attend the Logic class. 

Monday, 26th September 1836. — Dr. Chalmers 
called. We had a conversation on the state of politics. 
A remark was made that Sir Robert Peel would pro- 
bably be in office in the course of a year, but the ques- 
tion was, could he retain office? Dr Chalmers said 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



251 



he should come forward with a scheme for the Chris- 
tian education of the people, to include dissenters if 
they chose. 

Tuesday, 21th September 1836. — At St George's 
Church, Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers preached, in aid of 
the Dean Church, a powerful discourse from 2d 
Corinthians, 4th chapter, 2d verse — Commending 
ourselves to every man's conscience." The church 
was quite crowded. 

He said that the manifestations of the Spirit gave 
additional light to see better than before what is in 
the Bible. . . . The common people, with the simple 
apparatus of a Bible and a conscience, are capable 
of understanding Christianity. . . . The missionary 
object is not only to extend Christendom, but to re- 
claim the interior waste. . . . The minister, in going to 
the poor, makes good his entry not only to their habi- 
tations, but to their hearts. . . . We hold that every 
scheme for the Christian education of the people should 
stand apart from every scheme for relief of their 
poverty. . . . Children in particular are liable to be 
gained by a parochial pastor. . . . His blandness is the 
avenue by which the portable evidence of Christianity 
finds its way to the heart of a people. . . . By the very 
act of coming under the roof of the common people, we, 
as it were, throw ourselves on their protection. ... If 
we want to taste the amenities of life, let us go not in 
the capacity of an almoner, but with kindness. . . . 
Those results from the cordialities of human life have 
nought of the air of romance in them. ... If the in- 



S52 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



mates of the jail can admit and feel the omnipotence 
of charity, surely our peasantry will feel it more. . . . 
The minister may not have lodged the truth that is 
unto salvation in each heart, but he has brought them 
all within hearing of it, and he has paved the way for it. 
. . . The amelioration of a district in the bulk may look 
hopeless, but not so in the detail : men should regene- 
rate piece-meal — they want to do it at once. . . . The 
millennium that awaits our race must come gradually, 
and pass on from farm to farm, till the whole earth is 
Christianised. The way to reform the great globe 
itself is to reform a neighbourhood. . . . Our men of 
sublimer views would do it all at once. How proud 
an achievement it is, when the people of one district 
are made as one family. . . . The loveliness of the pic- 
ture stands out the greater on account of the dark 
background. ... If one sound is more like that of 
paradise than another, it is when a household is seen 
assembled together to worship God. . . . This is the 
genuine majesty of the people. . . . Examine the cot- 
tage library, and it is the Bible, the Flavels, the 
Richard Baxters, and Guthries of another age you 
find there. The Christianity of our ploughmen, our 
artisans, is founded on the principles of our moral na- 
ture. . . . Without the grace of God — a blessing from 
on high — church-building may prove but the noisy 
bustle of a useless preparation. Unless the windows 
of the upper sanctuary are opened, and fountains of 
living water poured forth, all the pleasing spectacle, 
so pleasing to the eye of taste, will be useless — prayer 
and performance must both go forth. 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



253 



Sabbath, 20th November 1836. — Afternoon, at Dean 
Church, heard Dr Chahners preach from Judges, 
3d chapter, 20th verse, middle clause — I have a . 
message from God unto thee." He said, the over- 
tures of the gospel are so couched as to be general, 
yet to be applicable to every individual — the call is 
universal . . . There is no straitening with God, — it is 
only in the dark suspicious bosoms of men . . . The 
blessings of the gospel are as universally diffused as 
air or water — the elements of heaven's blessings are 
acceptable to all. If this be thought Antinomianism, 
we turn to another verse, and there you find it writ- 
ten — whosoever cometh unto Him must forsake all sin. 
, . , Let faith enter into the heart of a man, and he 
becomes a renovated creature; let faith enter into 
the hearts of all, and vou have a renovated world. . . . 
To rekindle in my cold and deserted bosom love to 
God, let me think of His love" to me. ... If we have 
faith, the Bible is a message to each of us, the same as 
if his own name were superscribed on it. The text 
recognises no outcasts : your good- will to God is all 
that is wanting for you to enjoy His gifts. 

Wednesday, 21st December 1836.— Called on Dr 
Chalmers, at his house, Morningside Place, and had a 
walk and much interesting conversation Avith him. 
Every word he utters, or statement he makes, is worth 
preservation. He recalls to your recollection what 
Samuel Johnson said of Burke, that you could not 
be a few minutes with him under an arch, to shun a 
shower of rain, but you would discover he was a man 



254 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



of extraordinary intellectual power. Have always 
fears that he may not live long : perhaps this may be 
from looking at the incessant and unwearied activity 
of his mind. 

Tuesday, 3d January 1837. — Called on Dr Chal- 
mers — deputed to request him to preside to-morrow 
at a public breakfast to be given to Dr Cooke of 
Belfast. Dr Chalmers requested us to convey to 
Dr Cooke the expression of his high and kind re- 
gards, regretting very much that engagements pre- 
vented him complying with the request, which, other- 
wise, he would have had much pleasure in doing. 

Friday, 11th March 1837.— At Dr Chalmers's 
lecture on pauperism, in his class-room, University of 
Edinburgh. It was the anniversary of his birthday, 
and he was saluted by the class on his entrance. His 
students supped together in honour of the occasion, 

Thursday, 25th May 1837. — Dr Chalmers, as Con- 
vener of the Church-extension Committee, read his 
report, and delivered a speech on the subject in the 
General Assembly. The sum now raised for the 
scheme amounted to £157,000, and 134 churches 
had been erected. The Moderator, Dr Gardiner of 
Bothwell, was instructed to return the thanks of the 
Assembly to Dr Chalimers for his arduous and success- 
ful labours in this cause. Dr Gardiner concluded his 
address by saying — " That you may live to see the 
day when every family throughout the length and 
breadth of the land will be furnished with suitable ac- 
commodation in the house of God, and with a minister 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



255 



to comfort them in the hour of their distress, is the 
earnest wish of every member of the Assembly." 

One of the journals of the day remarked that the 
eloquence, the zeal, and the devotedness of the great 
man who drew up this report were very conspicuous in 
every part of it, and unequivocally proved that he had 
lost nothing of the mental vigour and high-minded en- 
thusiasm with which all his exertions had been charac- 
terised. 

Thursday, 22d June 1837. — Dr Chalmers was 
now busily engaged preparing a series of lectures 
for delivery in London. Connected with this pre- 
paration, we received from him the following letter, 
dated — 

Burntisland, June 22, 1837. 
My dear Sir, — I shall feel greatly obhged by 
your finding out for me, somewhere in the series of Mr 
Cobbet's writings — I think his Political Register — his 
various testimonies in favour of the Church of Eno:- 
land, and getting them extracted for me. It may cost 
you some little trouble ; but it will be of the mightiest 
importance to me. I would call for them on Tuesday 
the 27th. — I ever am, my dear Sir, yours most truly, 

Tho:mas Chalmers. 

John Anderson, Esq." 

Sabbath, 9th July 1837. — Dr Chalmers preached 
at Dean Church from Revelation, 22d chapter, 11th 
verse. In his preliminary prayer, he used the empha- 



256 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



tic words — " When we think of ourselves as great 
sinners, may we think of Him as a great Saviour." 

He remarked that mainly the happiness of heaven 
is a moral and spiritual happiness . . . the economy of the 
New Testament is altogether mistaken if we suppose 
that by it, benevolence is separated from happiness, or 
malignity from misery. The man who has these un- 
sanctified feelings, hatred, envy, and remorse, carries 
the elements of hell in his bosom ; . . . and to be saved we 
must be sanctified. It is well that we should under- 
stand how the wrong affections of our nature carry 
their own punishment along with them. In the reci- 
procal workings of injustice and ingratitude, there is a 
pain altogether apart from any loss of property. There 
are many who would pay tenfold the amount to pur- 
chase an immunity from the pain given by little 

domestic pilferments The happiness of heaven is 

mainly the happiness of virtue. ... If all men were 
righteous, all men would be happy. . . . Holiness is that 
quick and sensitive delicacy that takes guardianship of 
the heart. It is exalted purity of sentiment — it is the 
ethereal purity of the third heaven. . . . There is there 
a complacency — a health and harmony of the soul. . . . 
Purity of heart is the most distinctive evidence of grace 

within Holiness is the very atmosphere of heaven 

— the moral elixir of glorified spirits. We know no- 
thing more ruinous than the acquiescence of multitudes 
in a low standard for heaven. There is a pleasure in 
feehng good- will to another . . . thus every possessor of a 
heart has a treasury within himself, with which he may 



BEMINISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



257 



strew Ills whole path with beatitudes. Without any 
acts of giving, — by smihng happy on all around him, 
he lights up a moral sunshine. Even in the most 
abject habitations of poverty, a paradise may be 
created with this. As good-will and gratitude are in- 
creased in this world, in proportion is it assimilated to 
heaven. It is the alchemy of the heart which trans- 
mutes everything into gold. . . .Virtue is heaven itself 

— not its price — it is the very substance of heaven 

By a moral transition from the old to the new charac- 
ter, we enter on the threshold of heaven. . . . The object 
of God's promises is not to lull us to indolence, but to 
rouse us to activity. He who, when bound by a chain 
between two soldiers, was at ease — though firm and un- 
daunted in other circumstances — wept as a child when 
he heard of the grace of God being turned into lascivi- 
ousness. This may be truly termed a picturesque 
argument. It shews the indispensable requirement of 
virtue. 

Sabbath, loth October 1837. — Afternoon, at Dean 
Church, Dr Chalmers preached on 19th Psalm, 11th 
verse — In keeping of them there is great reward." 

There is a recreation and delight, said he, in keep- 
ing the law of God. . . . This joy must be divided into 
two ingredients; — the first is the approving consci- 
ence. ... It springs not all from the hope of reward . . . 
there is ^ present sls well as a perpetual feast . . . there 
is the enjoyment of sweetest sunshine — there is, in 
remorse, a present agony distinct from fear. In the 
play and exercise of love, there is a present joy, . . . 

R 



258 



EEMINISCENCES OF DP. CHALMERS. 



when the heart of the creature rises in trust to the Crea- 
tor as to a friend, — when in the aspect of the Divinity 
we behold both the mildness and majesty of worth. . . . 
There is a beatitude in all this, to which it is impos- 
sible to give utterance. ... It is the very beatitude of 
heaven. . . . They have a peace the world knoweth 
not of. . . . They are not troubled with the storms of 
the midway passage. . . . The second ingredient is 
love to our neighbour. . . . Malignity, envy, and anger 
give pain. . . . When the heart is attuned to love and 
gratitude, there is unutterable joy. . . . When there is 
kindness within, there is comfort within. , . . Selfish- 
ness is then felt to have been a weight and confinement 
on the spirit. . . . The mind feels as if relieved from a 
stricture. Even for the temporary purposes of this 
life, God has spread the charities of life as a blessed 
enjoyment. . . . The real happiness of life most cer- 
tainly lies in the exercise of the tender affections. . . . 
In foregoing a claim of money to a needy family, is 
there not an ample compensation given in the pleasure 
the mind feels at the very deed ? . . . One and all of 
the virtues yield an immediate gratification to the 
mind. . . . There is a secure repose to the mind in 
gentleness and humility. ... In temperance of the 
body, there is health of mind. . . . The crown of heaven 
is not of gold or silver— it is composed of a moral 
splendour. ... It deteriorates your religion, if you 
work for heaven only as a labourer for hire. . . . What 
a vulgar, ignoble character is this ! — instead of feeHng 
the reward that there is in keeping the commandments 



REMmSCE^X^ES OF DR CHALMERS. 



259 



— instead of a happiness that resides natively in the 
hohness — this makes virtue the ivork for something, 
that is, the hire. This goes to the root of all your 
Christianitv. ... It is no evidence of your love for a 
luork that you love the wages. These lie as wide from 
each other as the element of sordiclness does from 
sacredness. Whether are your exercises in Christian- 
ity for a gain, or for the love of what is good in itself? 
These are the questions by which the sterling and the 
counterfeit in Christianity are tested. . . . An inferior 
animal can tremble under the rod, or be allured bv 
sensual gratifications, as well as man. . . , The question 
is, do you delight in the law of God ? — have you been 
allured to holiness by the beauty of its graces, not 
bribed by its future rewards ? Some may object to 
this as not the evangelical system of Christianity — 
rather the legal; but if you look on justification as 
yom^ landing-place, you err, — it ought to be the 
starting-post of your Christianity. . . . God's jurispru- 
dence requires a higher homage than merely giving 
as a reward. . . . Thus is the dignity of Heaven's 
government secured. . . . This gospel economy, in con- 
tradistinction from the legal economy. . . . Along with 
the fears of legality, the sordidness of legahty is imme- 
diately hghted up in the heart. . . . There is no let or 
hindrance between the sinner and the mercy-seat. . . . 
Instead of luinning the mercy of God, ... it smiles on 
you already. . . . Close, then, with the offers of this 
gospel — this will be the beginning of heaven in your 
souls. 



260 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



Thursday, 9th November 1837.— At Trinity College 
Church, Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers preached on 2d 
Chronicles, 17th chapter, 9th verse, in behalf of the 
parish schools — And they taught in Judah, and had 
the book of the law of the Lord with them, and went 
about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught 
the people." 

He said— It is miserable shifting in parents and 
Government, to throw responsibility on each other for 
the right education of children. The legal and the 
voluntary principles acted harmoniously together in 
former clays — now we read of nothing but fiercest con- 
troversy between these elements. The ancient jubilee 
was at antipodes in feeling, from the cold, paltry, and 
heartless economy of this day, that would leave reli- 
gion altogether to the voluntary system. This, instead 
of being a piece of exploded antiquarianism, applies 
closely to the present times.. In the nation where 
there was the greatest grant of tithes, there was also 
the greatest amount of free-will offerings. A Govern- 
ment does not lead, but follows the march of pubhc 
sentiment. It is by the people coming forward that 
a moral compulsion is made on the Government. The 
one hundred and eighty new churches built by sub- 
scription among us, form one hundred and eighty 
arguments for the Government giving an endowment 
to these very churches — the case is becoming more 
palpable and stronger every day. Instead of you 
waiting for the Government, the Government is waiting 
for you. Let but the enterprise of School-extension 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



261 



be started, and it would present brighter prospects of 
success, than did the Church-extension scheme. The 
common people are the class best worth the caring for. 
. . . The great evil of controversy is, that it gives half 
views of things . . . the voluntary and legal principles 
might be made to coalesce in beautiful harmony. ... It 
is Hke the geological controversy, where at last fire 
and water united. 

Thursday, 16th November 1837. — At a pubhc 
breakfast of the friends of Church-extension, Waterloo 
Hotel, Edinburgh — 200 present — Dr Chalmers in the 
chair. He delivered an address ; kindling with all 
his usual ardour, he said, near the close of his sj)eech — 
Two alternatives are placed in your choice — whether 
will you have a population wholly neglected, living in 
a state of heathenism ? or will you have the spiritual 
necessities of that population supplied by unendowed 
ministers ? I have no difiiculty in making my choice ; 
I have no difficulty in preferring the latter; and, if 
this be a sound deliverance on the first alternative, I 
would say that such is exactly the course we have 
been pursuing. 

Sabbath, 25th March 1838. — Forenoon, at St. 
Stephen's Church, Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers preached 
on 1st John, 4th chapter, 8th verse — " God is love." 
An eloquent, powerful, and impressive discourse. Pre- 
liminary prayer. — Thou art within us, and before 
us, and around us. . . . Convince us of our need of a 
Saviour, — seeing the alternative set before us is, 
whether we shall be tried bv His ric^hteousness. . . . 



262 EEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 

Deal with us, nob according to our deserts, but accord- 
ing to His deserts. . . . May every new day that brings 
us nearer to death, find us more conformed to His 
image. . . . May we no longer put death at a distance 
from us. . . . Henceforward may we think of the little- 
ness of time, and of the greatness of that eternity that 
lies beyond it. . . . May we learn that human life is 
but a journey — the flight of a few days — a scene 
of vanity and vexation of spirit. . . . May wo culti- 
vate brotherly-kindness and charity, as it is only when 
these things are in us, and abounding, that we are 
made fit for eternity. 

Dr Chalmers remarked that we are apt by nature 
to view God as an object of terror and severity, but 
we should view Him with confidence and affection. . . . 
Nature is even a screen of interception at times, be- 
tween us and Nature's God. . . . Whatever he was in 
primeval days, man is now exiled, and trembles before 
an unknown God ; and the grand Christian argument, 
that God sent His Son into the world to seek and to 
save sinners, is not to be found in the whole range 
of visible nature, but in the New Testament. — The 
remainder of the discourse was much the same as 
we have given in our memoranda of his two ser- 
mons at St George's Church, 3d and 10th November 
1833. 

Concluding Prayer, — If there be any here who 
care for none of these things, be strong in them, and 
make them to think of Time, how short — Eternity, how 
long — and Judgment, how certain. If any who name 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



263 



the name of Christ, and do not depart from all iniquity, 
shew them that there is something radically defective 
in the foundation of their faith. . . . We pray that sub- 
jects may be endowed with a spirit of moderation. . . . 
We pray for this city of our habitation — for the pastor 
of this people. . . . To-day, while it is called to-day, 
mav w^e harden not our hearts. 

Wednesday, 25th April 1838. — Dr Chalmers com- 
menced a series of six lectures in London, on the 
establishment and extension of national churches, as 
affording the only adequate machinery for the moral 
and religious instruction of the people. These lectures 
were delivered in the Hanover Square Eooms. They 
attracted great public notice, and were attended by the 
Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of Leeds, Lords Bex- 
ley, Wharncliffe, Ashley,* Radstock, and Teignmouth, 
the Bishops of Winchester and Chester, Sir Robert 
Inglis, Sir James Graham, and many other influ- 
ential members of Parliament, and a crowded au- 
dience. Dr Chalmers was in fact the hon of the 
day in London. The leading journal of Europe 
remarked of the opening lecture : — " Whether we 
regard the depth and precision of his analysis, the 
breadth and luminousness of his general views, or the 
pertinence and picturesqueness of his illustrations, it 
was one of the finest specimens of fervid and argu- 
mentative eloquence to which we ever listened.'' 

Dr Chalmers stated that the terminus ad quern of 
his proposition was the public object of a cheap Chris- 

^ Now Earl of Shaftesbury. 



264 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



tian education to the community at large. " For the 
prosperity of this work/' he said, " we are taught that 
there must be a descent of hving water from the upper 
sanctuary. Yet this descent does not supersede — it 
rather calls for — a work of preparation on the earth 
which receives it. The part which God takes in the 
operation does not abrogate the part which man ought 
to take in it. They are the overflowings of the Mle 
which have given rise to the irrigations of an artificial 
husbandry in Egypt, for the distribution of its waters. 
And there is positively nothing in the doctrine of a 
sanctifying or fertilising grace from heaven above, 
which should discharge us, but the contrary, from 
what may be termed the irrigations of a spiritual hus- 
bandry in the world beneath. It is not enough that 
there be a descent ; there must be a distribution also, 
or ducts of conveyance, which, by places of worship 
and through parishes, might carry the blessings of this 
Divine nourishment to all the houses and families of the 
land. A machinery is not the less essential upon earth, 
that the impellent force which guides and animates its 
movements is from heaven. . . . The State may ordain 
a scholastic establishment, yet leave unaltered the 
whole determination of the learning to an educational 
board ; or it may ordain an ecclesiastical establishment, 
and leave entirely with the Church the determination 
of its own lessons — alike unfettered by any dictation 
or control on the part of the civil authority. 

Whatever the scholarship may be, whether com- 
mon or general, wherewith you want to charge and 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



265 



inoculate the population of a country, if you desire 
that it shall be uniyersally spread, you cannot but de- 
sire an effectiye mechanism for the full and ready diffu- 
sion of it/' 

He delivered the last of these six lectures on 12th 
May 1838. 

Monday^ 7th May 1838. — Dr Chalmers presided at 
a meeting at Freemasons' Hall, London, of the friends 
of the scheme of the General Assembly for extending 
the means of relioious instruction in Scotland. He 
stated that, from the time of the Reformation, the 
population of Scotland had increased from one milhon 
to two millions and a half, and that one milhon of the 
inhabitants mio'ht be regarded as strano;ers to church- 
going, and to every good old habit of their forefathers, 
and beyond the reach of every effort to recal them 
from the degeneracy into which they have fahen, save 
by a cheap and, so to them, accessible Christian edu- 
cation. 

Tuesday, 8th May 1838.— At a meeting of the 
Church-rate Abolition Society, in London, Daniel 
O'Connell, M.P., the Irish agitator, a man of grocit 
mental power — though a singular compound of frank- 
ness and cunning — made an attack on Dr Chalmers, 
designating him a oTeat magician from the north.'' 
— He said, Dr Chalmers had come to London to per- 
suade the world that reho-ion and money are not only 

O V t. 

synonymous, but identiccil. He observed, that not- 
withstanding the powers of Dr Chalmers's intellect, his 
ready eloquence, his powerful talents, and possession 



266 



REMmiSCBNCES OP DR CHALMERS. 



of all human facilities for success, he would fail ; 
because it was blasphemy to identify the mammon of 
this world with the God of eternity, — for the beasts of 
the field had a place to rest, and the birds of the air 
where to nestle — but the Saviour had not a place to 
lay His head — He had no establishment ! The great 
apostle of the Gentiles, who made his simple baskets, 
did not, like this great magician, require an establish- 
ment. He said, Dr Chalmers thinks the rehgion I 
profess, erroneous. He treats it with contempt — I 
forgive him for it freely. 

Tuesday, 22d May 1838. — Dr Chalmers presented 
the Church-extension Committee's Ileport to the 
General Assembly. His secretary, Mr Cochrane, read 
the financial part of it ; and Dr Chalmers then read 
the concluding part, which occupied nearly an hour 
and a half. The mixture of the voluntary and com- 
pulsory principles, he said, received less encourage- 
ment in Scotland than elsewhere; but it was only those 
who had space in their understandings for half a sub- 
ject, who would utterly reject either of these principles. 
Never did any body of philanthropists address them- 
selves with more single-heartedness to their professed 
object, than they had done to their high and sacred 
design, which was to obtain means for the Christian 
instruction of the common people. The total amount 
collected, mainly through the indefatigable exertions 
of Dr Chalmers, was now £205,000. Mr PauU of 
Tullynessle moved the cordial thanks of the Assembly 
to Dr Chalmers, for his gigantic exertions in this cause. 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



267 



Mr Dempster of Denny seconded the motion, and 
asked, to whom did they owe Dr Chalmers ? Who had 
endowed him with his talents? Who had bestowed 
upon him the eloquence for which he was distinguished? 
and who had given him that influence over public men, 
and the public mind, which he now held? Dr Muir, 
the Moderator, conveyed the thanks of the Assembly 
to him in an excellent address. He said — " There can- 
not be a spark of true patriotism in the heart of any 
man — prince or statesman, nobleman or commoner— 
Avho has not a desire to spread and diffuse a knowledge 
of the gospel. May the great Head of the Church 
preserve you long in health and strength to devote 
your talents, your genius, your eloquence, to the cause 
of your heavenly Master!" 

Wednesday, 23d May 1838. — At the General As- 
sembly, after a long debate, the Assembly asserted the 
spiritual independence of the Church over the civil 
power, by a majority of 41. 

Sabbath, 29th July 1838. — Dr Chalmers opened 
Morningside Church, in the immediate neighbourhood 
of Edinburgh, a locality in which he has resided since 
he left his house in Forres Street. He preached both 
forenoon and afternoon to a crowded audience. 

Sabbath, 12th August 1838. — Dr Chalmers opened 
the new Chalmers' Church at Glasgow. He preached 
there in the afternoon from 1st Chronicles, 3d chapter, 
6th verse. 

Friday, 28th September 1838. — Dr Chalmers issued 
a circular, proposing a supplementary fund to the 



268 



EEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



General Assembly's Church-extension Scheme, by 
which every person subscribing should give a certain 
sum to each of a hundred additional churches to be 
erected in the poorer districts of Scotland. This pro- 
posal was responded to liberally. 

Wednesday, lUh Novemher 1838. — A very inter- 
esting meeting of the tradesmen and working classes 
was held in the Assembly Rooms, George Street, 
Edinburgh, this evening, in support of the Church of 
Scotland. The proceedings commenced by singing 
the 100th Psalm, the whole audience standing and 
joining in the sacred hymn. Dr Chalmers spoke, 
it was remarked, with more than an ordinary dis- 
play of the higher characteristics of his eloquence. 
He said — When we have completed Church-exten- 
sion, the work is little more than half done. It 
must be followed up adequately and commensurately 
by School-extension. In addition to a new church, 
there must be placed beside it a new school — the one 
for Christian, the other for common, education. But 
you must not imagine, when I make this distinction 
between Christian and common education, I therefore 
understand that, in the learning of our schools, Chris- 
tianity is to have no part, or that I at all give in to 
the heartless system which would dissever religion 
from education. It was religion in Scotland which 
gave the first impulse to education. John Knox and 
his associates convinced the popular understanding of 
the country, that the Bible was the genuine record of 
communication from God to man, and that witliin the 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



269 



four corners of that book there were the words which 
were able to make them wise unto salvation. It was this 
wliich inspired them with a universal desire to possess 
the faculty of reading, that they might unlock the 
mysteries of the Scriptures, and acquire that know- 
ledo-e of God and of His Son Jesus Christ which is life 
everlasting;. It was this which created a universal de- 
mand for education among the people of Scotland. 
Therefore we ouo;ht never to foro-et that rehoion is 
the parent of our schools ; and that, if these schools, 
by an act of unnatural rebelhon, should cast off the 
authority of their parent — if they should ever forget 
and disown the great progenitor to whom they owe 
their birth and beino; — all the blessings and o^lorv 

O Oct/ 

which they conferred on our land would speedily de- 
part from it. By the wretched exchange of the bread 
of life for the mere husks of unsanctified knowledge, 
the moral health of the young and rising generation 
would wither into extinction, just as surely as would 
their physical health, if they were bereft of the pro- 
per nourishment of man, and driven to the wretched 
necessity of feeding on ashes. I confess I look with a 
great degree of jealousy and dislike at all this tam- 
pering on the part of crude and incompetent specula- 
tors with the sacred business of education. The pro- 
posal to take the Bible from the schools, if it is not 
just dropping poison into the fountain-heads of our 
national morahty , is at least taking away from . these 
fountain-heads the healing waters of the sanctuary. 
Our people would, indeed, continue to be taught, but 



270 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 

the light put before them would be moral darkness ; 
and we have the authority of our Saviour for saying, 
How great would be that darkness ! Knowledge, it is 
said, is power ; and if knowledge is associated with 
religion, it becomes a power for the virtuous and the 
good, and tells with the best and most beneficent in- 
flaence on the well-being of society. But if know- 
ledge be dissociated from rehgion, this destroys not 
the truth of the maxim that knowledge is power, but 
then it is power emancipated from the restraints of 
principle ; and such a power let loose on society, like 
the deep policy of an artful tyrant, or the military 
science of a ruthless conqueror, would have only the 
effect to enslave and destroy. 

Upwards of one thousand people were present at 
this interesting meeting. 

Sabbath, 13th January 1839. — -Afternoon, at Dean 
Church, Dr Chalmers preached on Isaiah, 27th chap- 
ter, 4th and 5th verses. This was a sermon Dr Chal- 
mers seemed specially to value. We heard him re- 
peatedly deliver it, with frequent alterations suited to 
the occasion. Of this day's version of the discourse 
we have some precious memoranda, but shall defer 
our notice of it till a later and interesting occasion, 
when he adapted it to a rural population, in one of 
the southern pastoral districts of Scotland. We noted 
of his concluding prayer—" Convince us of the suffi- 
ciency of Christ. Grant that we may prosecute a 
strenuous departure from all iniquity. Teach one and 
all of us to quit ourselves like men.'' 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



271 



Friday, 18th January 1839. — Went to St George's 
Church, Edinburgh, at the unusual hour of half-past 
five P.M. Dr Chalmers delivered an address of two 
hours and twenty minutes on Church-extension. The 
collection was towards building a church at the West 
Port of Edinburgh — a scheme which he took up in a 
different way five years afterwards on his territorial 
system. 

Saturday, 23d February 1839. — Had an interest- 
ing conversation with Dr Chalmers. He said, if spared 
to a green old age, he would like to bring forward his 
more matured views on practical Christianity. He 
propounded the question, how long a man might con- 
tinue his literary life? He remarked that he would 
like an opportunity to make his bow and retire from 
a bustling hfe — from all controversy to literary leisure. 
He said he had a letter lately from an invalid woman 
— a very friendly letter — urgmg him to adopt some 
plan of this sort, and write practical sermons, as of 
greater usefulness. He approved of the friendly sug- 
gestion. 

Wednesday, 27th February 1839. — Dr Chalmers 
spoke in the Presbytery of Edinburgh, counselhng a 
peaceful course, if it were possible, consistent with 
principle, instead of leading to a misunderstanding be- 
tween the Church and State. 

Sabbath, 31st March 1839. — Forenoon, at St Cuth- 
bert's old Chapel of Ease, now Buccleuch Church, 
Dr Chalmers preached for the new parish school there, 
from Romans, 10th chapter, 1st verse. This sermon 



272 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS, 



was afterwards published in the fourth volume of his 
Lectures on Paul's Epistle to the Romans, which lec- 
tures he considered among the best of his productions, 
and had a desire to circulate it widely in a cheap form. 
This, it is to be hoped, will, by and by, be done, as 
their enlarged circulation may do much good. Besides 
our memoranda of this discourse, we took a few notes 
of his preliminary prayer, feeling it so impressive : 
" Give us to feel, 0 God, the intimacy of our depen- 
dence on thee. Give us to feel the subordination of 
the thing that is formed to Him who has formed it. 
Give us to feel our need of a Saviour. The blood of 
Christ cleanseth from all sin, and why not from our 
sins ? Deliver us from the grievous inconsistency of 
those who say Lord, Lord, and yet refuse to do the 
things which He bids them. Grant that every footstep 
we take on earth may have on it the high impress of 
a candidate for eternity." He remarked, afterwards, 

JSTever will prayer be more heard than when the 
father prays that those children who gladden his 
hearth on earth may spend an eternity with him in 
heaven. If parents were more anxious to train up 
their children to God, and afford them an example, 
we would have more children born unto God." He 
said, " Any school where the water of life is dissevered 
from it, I would view as little better than a moral 
nuisance. What an amount of raw material there is 
in a city for the manufacture of moral and spiritual 
good among our lower classes !" 

Monday, 13th May 1839. — Sacramental occasion. 



REMDsISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



273 



Dr Chalmers preached at St Stephen's Church, Edin- 
burgh, from Romans, 10th chapter, 1st verse. In his 
prehminary prayer he used the following striking and 
impressive language : May we, in all time coming, 
delight in doing the will of Him who died for us. We 
are bought w^ith a price, even the costly price of His 
peace-speaking blood. We rejoice in the completeness 
of that salvation — that He came to save us not merely 
from the punishment of our sins, but from the j^oiver 
of our sins. From this time forth, may we every new 
day grow in the Christian graces. May we remember, 
that if we do not obtain the character of heaven on 
this side of time, we will not be fit for the inheritance 
of heaven's joys. May we therefore haste, and make 
no delay in turning to Christ. May we think what 
this unceasing conflict of seasons is to end in. May we 
learn that human life is but a journey — the flight of a 
few days. May peace, and joy, and temperance here, 
lit us for the companionship of the upper sanctuary. 
May the bread and wine be a conclusion to all of us 
of the blood of Christ — that henceforth we may adorn 
that doctrine of which we have made a goodly pro- 
fession. We pray for the arrival of the time when 
nation shall no longer rise up against nation. And may 
the country have for counsellors men fearing God, 
hating covetousness, and having the good of the nation 
at heart." 

The Veto Act, since it had passed into a law in 
1834, had worked admirably well in Scotland, till, on 
the rejection, by a large majority of the heads of 

s 



274 



REMmiSCENCES OF DK CHALMERS. 



families, of the person presented by the patron as 
minister to the parish of Auchterarder, a question was 
raised in the civil courts as to the legality of this 
enactment. Lords Glenlee, Fullerton, MoncreilF, 
Jeffrey, and Cockburn, considered the Veto Act per- 
fectly legal, but a majority of the judges pronounced 
it ultra vires on the part of the General Assembly. 
Thus arose a serious collision between the civil and 
ecclesiastical courts in Scotland. The case was ap- 
pealed to the House of Lords, who affirmed the judg- 
ment of the Court of Session, 2d May 1839. 

Wednesday, 22d May 1839. — The Auchterarder 
case before the General Assembly. Heard Dr Chal- 
mers speak on it nearly three hours with great power. 
At the conclusion of his speech, he went to the vestry 
and lay down — his physical energies greatly prostrated. 
Was with him, and felt much alarmed for the result. 
He took two glasses of wine, which revived him from 
the state of complete exhaustion into which he had 
been thrown by his exertions His friends were, in 
the evening, very anxious about him. The great ex- 
ertion and fatigue he had encountered, and his intense 
earnestness in delivering his powerful and impressive 
speech, had been, in fact, too much for his physical 
strength. 

Friday, 2ith May 1839. — Dr Chalmers read in the 
General Assembly his fifth annual report of the Church- 
extension Committee. They have now erected two 
hundred additional churches, and the subscriptions 
amount to the munificent sum of £258,000. The 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CH.AXMERS. 



275 



thanks of the Assembly were conveyed to him, through 
their Moderator, Dr Duncan of Ruthwell. 

Friday, 7th June 1839. — Dr Chalmers having set 
out on a tour to the north of Scotland in aid of the 
cause of Church-extension, delivered a lecture in the 
town of Forfar on the subject, to an audience whom he 
deeply interested. He was entertained at a pubhc 
dinner the same day. On proceeding to Arbroath, he 
spent an evening with Mr Stevenson's family, in the 
neighbourhood, where he had officiated as private tutor 
in early life, and, at his own special request, was allowed 
possession for that night of the small apartment fami- 
liar to him forty years before. 

The case of the parish of Lethendy assumed an im- 
portant aspect. The Crown, in 1835, had appointed a 
Mr Clark assistant and successor in that parish ; but 
he was vetoed by the congregation, and was heard of 
no more till, on the death of the incumbent, he raised 
a civil action against the Presbytery of Dunkeld for 
not inducting him as minister of Lethendy ; but the 
Crown having issued a deed of presentation to Mr 
Kessen, the presbytery had taken all the usual steps 
regarding it except his ordination and induction, when 
Mr Clark presented them with an interdict from the 
Court of Session against their performance of that 
purely spiritual deed. The presbytery took the ad- 
vice of their ecclesiastical superiors, who instructed 
them immediately to proceed with the ordination of 
Mr Kessen. For obeying these instructions they were 
summoned to the bar of the Court of Session. 



276 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



Wednesday, 12th June 1839. — The Presbytery of 
Dunkeld appeared and submitted to a rebuke from the 
civil court. Here was an open colhsion on the ques- 
tion of ciyil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction. It excited 
deep interest, leading to conflicting views on this com- 
plicated question. Till these recent occurrences, it 
was believed to be the law of the land, that such pro- 
ceedings were solely under the control of the ecclesias- 
tical courts of the Church of Scotland. 

Tuesday, 18th June 1839. — At this interesting and 
exciting period we received the following letter from 
Dr Chalmers, dated from the Kev. Mr Brewster's, of 
Craig : — 

" Craig Manse, Montrose, June 17, 1839. 

*'My dear Sir, — I shall, if God will, be at Aberdeen 
on the 24th, by which time I shall be happy to receive 
from you a letter per post, with the Edinburgh news, 
and more especially the Edinburgh views on the sub- 
ject of the recent appearances by the Dunkeld clergy. 
— I am, my dear sir, yours most truly, 

Thomas Chalmers." 

Being desirous to present Dr Chalmers with as cor- 
rect a view as possible of the pubhc feeling in the 
Scottish metropolis on this deeply-important question, 
the reply was as follows : — 

Edinburgh, 24:th June 1839. 

" My dear Sir, — I was favoured with yours from 
Craig Manse. There is a difficulty in giving you a 
just statement of the Edinburgh views on the Dunkeld 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



277 



clergy's appearances. I would say that at least three- 
fourths of the mere political Tories speak loudly 
against them, and the views entertained by the Assem- 
bly; whilst, on the other hand, by far the greater 
part of all classes who have entertained deep and seri- 
ous views of religion, join with the Church in her 
maintenance of the principle of non-intrusion, and 
hope that the stand she has made will be attended 
with good effects. The Voluntaries again, I need 
not say, hope tha,t these internal divisions will 
pave the way for the overthrow of ecclesiastical 
establishments. The Assembly Rooms meeting,* on 
Wednesday, of the friends of the Church, went off well, 
and seemed to afford satisfaction. I had a great wish 
to be present, but I durst not, on account of the extreme 
heat. I trust, my dear sir, that, whilst labom^ing 
ardently in your cause, you are taking due care not 
to overtax your strength. At the Assembly debate, 
you certamly risked your health ; and allow me to 
remind you that it is not merely your own, but it is 
alike valuable to your family, your friends, and the 
country ; and I know well, by severe personal expe- 
rience, how over-excitement is apt to put our lives 
in peril. You will find Provost Brown at Aberdeen, 

* A public meeting of the members and friends of tlie Cliiircb. of Scot- 
land, called by tlie Lord Provost, on the requisition of upwards of 500 
citizens^ ^' for the purpose of expressing attachment to the principles of 
our National Church, and to the ecclesiastical freedom of her people : and 
in particular, to consider the propriety, in her present circiimstances, of 
applying for the interference of the Legislature, to prevent the intrusion 
of unacceptable ministers into her congregations." 



278 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



a fine old man ; of course, you are aware he is the 
father of the Rev. Charles J. Brown here, who got 
permission from his parents to leave the legal profes- 
sion, after he had been reared to it, thinking it demo- 
ralising. 

" I shall be glad to write you again, if I can be of 
any service. My great object is to endeavour to give 
you a correct view of the opinions held here ; and, 
with best wishes, I am, my dear sir, yours, &c. 

''^Rev. Dr Chalmers, Aberdeen." 

Wednesday, Sd Jidy 1839. — Dr Chalmers called. 
He sails for London this day as one of a deputation 
from the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland's 
Committee on the subject of non-intrusion; his col- 
leagues are Rev. Drs Gordon and Mackellar, Rev. 
Messrs Bruce and Candlish, Mr Bell, Mr Hog of New- 
liston, and Mr Alex. Dunlop, advocate. 

Thursday, lOth October 1839.— At St George's 
Church, Edinburgh, after a sermon from Dr Gordon, 
heard Dr Chalmers deliver a powerful and eloquent 
farewell address to Dr Duff, on his departure again 
to India as missionary of the Church of Scotland at 
Calcutta. 

Wednesday, Ath December 1839. — Dr Chalmers's 
answer to the Dean of Faculty's (John Hope, Esq., 
now Lord Justice-Clerk) letter to the Lord Chancellor 
on the claims of the Church of Scotland, published. 
It is a powerful and able production. 

In 1837, a Mr Edwards had been presented to the . 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



279 



parish of Marnoch, but was vetoed. In June 1839, he 
obtained a decree from the Court of Session, holding 
the Presbytery of Strathbogie bound to take him on 
trials; but they had been expressly prohibited by their 
ecclesiastical superiors from taking any steps towards 
his settlement. This prohibition they now disobeyed 
— a majority, consisting of seven, of the presbytery, 
having resolved to take Mr Edwards on trials as pre- 
sentee. 

Wednesday, 11th December 1839. — The Commission 
of the General Assembly suspended from the office of 
the ministry the seven clergymen who had committed 
the above act of insubordination to their ecclesiastical 
superiors. This was moved by the Rev. R. S. Can- 
dlish, and supported by Dr Chalmers. The seven 
suspended ministers still disobeyed their ecclesiastical 
superiors, and appealed to the Court of Session, whose 
judges, by a majority, granted an interdict which pro- 
hibited the Church of Scotland from sending her minis- 
ters to preach in the Presbytery of Strathbogie. Thus 
the collision between the civil and ecclesiastical courts 
was increased — the most eminent and excellent of the 
clergy of the Scottish Church continuing to preach 
with acceptance in the district of Strathbogie ; but we 
can only here mention these facts historically, as bear- 
ing on the question of the Disruption of the Church of 
Scotland. Public meetings connected with this subject 
were held over all Scotland, and the interest excited 
was intense. 

Tuesday, lith January 1840. — A great pubhc 



280 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



meeting was held at Edinburgli of those friendly to 
the principle of non-intrusion— the Marquis of Bread- 
albane in the chair. He remarked, that they were 
assembled to support the great principle that no unac- 
ceptable minister should be inducted into a parish or 
congregation against the wish of the people. This had 
been handed down to them from their forefathers as a 
great and fundamental principle of the Church. — The 
meeting adopted petitions to both Houses of Parlia- 
ment, calling on them to put an end to this unhappy 
collision between Church and State. 

Wednesday y 12th February 1840. — With Dr Chal- 
mers at his house, Inverleith Row. He does not feel 
at all well. We went out and had a walk and inter- 
esting conversation in the Experimental Gardens, In- 
verleith. He is bilious, and it is not surprising that 
he feels much annoyed and anxious about the present 
state of the Church of Scotland matters. Tried to 
impress on him the importance of keeping his mind 
easy. At present Dr Chalmers has good hopes, from 
negotiations on the tapis, of the Church question being 
settled favourably. 

Monday, 2^th February 1840. — At a great meeting 
on the Church of Scotland question in the Assembly 
Rooms, George Street, Edinburgh, the Lord Provost 
in the chair, Dr Chalmers said — It is in a season of 
unexampled difficulty we are assembled to declare 
what we hold to be a clear and incumbent duty, to 
rally and re-assure the Church's friends, in this 
hour of danger and menace to our Christian liber- 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



281 



ties. It is to tell the country that, though perplexed, 
we are not in despair, and that we are resolved 
to abide by the good old principle, which we be- 
lieve to be in the Word of God — a principle be- 
queathed to us by the founders of Scottish Presbytery, 
and sealed by the martyrdom of our Scottish fore- 
fathers. Let us go a century back to the history of 
the Church, when, in the midst of perils and difficulties, 
it had to keep its ground against the perfidies of 
James, and to steer its upright and undeviating course 
through the vacillations of the First Charles, and to lift 
up its daring front against the persecutions and profli- 
gacies of the Second Charles; and, last of all, to hide 
its weeping families in glens and moors, when pursued 
by the sanguinary edicts of that bigoted monarch, 
who, in the reaction of a nation^s vengeance, was 
hurled from his throne ; but let us never forget, that 
the same Bible which tells us to quit us like men and 
be strong, tells us in the very next verse, Let all your 
things be done with charity." Let everything, save 
the surrender of principle and duty, be done to prevent 
the conflict. Every honest patriot — every man whose 
heart is in the right place, who desires the peace of 
our J erusalem, and the moral well-being of the people 
of Scotland — will, I am sure, join me in fervent prayer 
for a right and speedy, and, if possible, an immediate 
settlement of the whole question. — Dr Chalmers con- 
cluded by moving — " That this meeting, fully approv- 
ing of the resolutions and petition adopted at the 
meetings lately held in Edinburgh, on the subject of 



282 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



the present position of the Church, contemplates the 
recent decision of the Court of Session, in the case of 
Strathbogie, with the deepest anxiety and alarm, as 
involving a manifest assumption of a right to control 
or regulate the decisions of Church courts, in matters 
purely spiritual." — Sir Andrew Agnew seconded this 
motion, which was unanimously carried. 

Dr Simpson of Kirknewton spoke at some length, 
for the purpose of shewing that the Church, while she 
disobeyed the interdict of the Court of Session, was 
acting in obedience to the constitution of the country, 
and moved — " That the assumption and exercise of such 
a power by the Court of Session is inconsistent with the 
Word of God — the standards of the Church — the consti- 
tution of this kingdom — the rights and privileges se- 
cured to the Church and people of Scotland by the Act 
of Security and Treaty of Union — and that no civil 
court has attempted such an interfer&ce in ecclesi- 
astical matters since the era of the Revolution." — This 
motion was seconded by Mr James MoncreifF,* and 
was also unanimously carried. 

Wednesday, 4:th March 1840. — At the Commission 
of the General Assembly, the Rev. R. S. Candlish 
moved — That the Commission resolve to present an 
humble and loyal address to her Majesty, and petitions 
to both Houses of Parliament, praying that immediate 
measures be adopted for protecting the Church from 
such unconstitutional interference of the Court of 
Session with the government, discipline, rights, and 

* xN ow Lord Advocate of Scotland. 



BEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



283 



privileges thereof, enforcing the observance of the 
statutes under which the said Court exercises autho- 
rity, and securing the rights and hberties of the 
Church and people of Scotland." Dr Chalmers, in 
supporting the motion, said — This is a question on which 
compromise is impossible. We have no choice but 
to do with it as the apostle did with the doctrine of 
justification by faith, when he felt that to yield in the 
shghtest degree to any encroachment, would be to 
surrender the whole principle ; and he accordingly tells 
us of its adversaries — however slight, or however im- 
perceptible their mroad was — to whom we gave 
place by subjection, no, not for an hour.'' In like 
manner, however slight the encroachment may be on 
our spiritual posver, we take up the language of the 
apostle, and say, — to whom we gave place by subjec- 
tion, no, not by a hairbreadth. It is not a question 
of degree — it is a question of principle ; and when we 
are called to recede a single inch from that hne of 
demarcation between the civil and the ecclesiastical 
on which we have planted our footstep, we have but 
one reply — we will not — we dare not — we will make 
no concession to the Court of Session; and that not 
because of the disgrace, but because of the gross and 
grievous dereliction of principle which we would there- 
by incur. They may by force eject us out of our places, 
but they never will force us to surrender our principles. 
The motion was adopted by an overwhelming majority. 

Monday, 30th March 1840. — Lord Melbourne, the 
Premier, who was a man of a poco cur ante disposition, 



284 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



stated, in the House of Peers, that the Church of 
Scotland question was one, in his estimation, full of 
difficulty — there was a difference between the courts 
of law and the ecclesiastical Assembly. They had 
carried on the war, he would not say with any great 
violence, or that either body had exceeded the powers 
they possessed, but they had exercised their powers to 
the utmost extent ; and then, being engaged in this 
manner, point to point, on a difference of the most vio- 
lent and determined nature, neither party being pre- 
pared to give way in the least degree to the other, 
they turned round and said to the Government, which 
was a third party — " Now, you settle this matter satis- 
factorily to both of us." He could not pledge the 
Government decidedly to bring forward any measure. 

Saturday, 4:th April 1840. — The Non-intrusion 
Committee of the Church of Scotland met and agreed 
to intimate to the Earl of Aberdeen their cordial 
approval " of a settlement of the Church question by 
legislating on the footing of a positive call from the 
majority of the congregation or parish being necessary, 
according to the old usage of the Church of Scotland ; 
but Lord Aberdeen, after a complicated correspond- 
ence with Dr Chalmers, receded from this. The pro- 
posal was abandoned, and Lord Aberdeen brought in 
a bill, which was considered as, in its whole tone and 
structure, subordinating the Church to the civil power 
in things spiritual. 

Monday, 27th April 1840. — Sacramental occasion. 
At St Stephen's Church, Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



285 



preached on Komans, 10th chapter, 5th to 9th verses, 
upon the evangehcal doctrines. At present, and for 
some time past, Dr Chalmers has worshipped in this 
church. As Professor of Theology, he is not required 
to officiate on the Sabbaths. 

The following impressive passage occurred in his 
prayer : — We know that thou castest out none who 
come unto thee. We rejoice in the liberty of access 
that is opened even to the guiltiest sinner. May we 
prosecute a strenuous departure from all that is evil. 
May we enter with delight and alacrity on our new 
obedience. He came to deliver us from this present 
world, with all its wretched train of guilt and pollution. 
May we now enter with diligence on the work. May 
we cultivate Heaven's piety— Heaven's purity — Hea- 
ven's charity. May we no longer live here as if we 
were to live here for ever. Of ourselves we are not 
sufficient for these things. Enable us to comibine a life 
and habit of prayer with a life and habit of strenuous 
exertion. Enable us to strive mightily. We pray for 
a blessing on all the ordinances of religion. May an 
expression of the Holy Spirit accompany the word 
preached." 

Saturday, 23d May 1840. — Attended a meeting in 
the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, against Lord Aber- 
deen's bill, the Lord Provost in the chair. It was a 
large gathering. Discussions of this kind are of great 
use in stimulating the popular mind. 

Wednesday, 27th May 1840. — Heard Dr Chalmers 
deliver a speech in the General Assembly on the ^fon- 



286 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



intrusion question. It was full of first principles. He 
spoke two hours and a half, and moved resolutions 
condemnatory of Lord Aberdeen's bill, and proposing 
to appoint a committee to watch over any bill on the 
subject. Dr Chalmers stated that he must decline 
being named on the committee, as, in consequence of 
the harassing warfare to which he had been exposed, 
and the infinite number of calls, and conflicts, and 
casualties to which he had been subjected in his twofold 
capacity of Convener of the Committees on Church- 
extension and Non-intrusion ; and, to crown and con- 
summate all, in addition to these unavoidable fatigues, 
he had met with a bitter, crushing disappointment,* 
which had for the present blasted his fondesf hopes for 
the good and peace of the Church, in his correspond- 
ence with Parliament-men, so that his health would not 
permit him to act as convener or member of the com- 
mittee ; but Heaven forbid, said he, that I should ever 
cease, for one moment, to labour, even to the last hour 
of my life, and lift up my feeble testimony in behalf of 
the spiritual independence of the Church, or the spi- 
ritual privileges of the people. 

Thursday, 28th May 1840.— The debate on Dr 

* Alluding to Ms recent correspondence with the Earl of Aberdeen, 
wHch was published soon afterwards. In one of his letters to Dr Chal- 
mers, dated 5th May, the very day he had introduced his bill into the 
House of Peers, his Lordship says : — After all, however, I am well 
aware that the success of this measure will mainly depend on the recep- 
tion which it may meet from yourself ; for although, from the accident of 
birth and social position, I have had the means of proposing this measure 
to the Legislature, it will depend on you whether it is to receive life and 
efficacy." 



REMINISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



287 



Chalmers's resolutions of the previous day was resumed 
in the General Assembly. They were carried by 221 
to 134. 

Friday, 14:th August 1840. — Dr Chalmers and Mr 
James Nisbet of London called. Had an interesting 
conversation with Dr Chalmers on Church matters. 
Remarked to him that it seemed, from recent events in 
the Church of Scotland, that Patronage would be ex- 
tinguished. The public feeling is now strongly against 
it ; and Dr Chalmers begins to be convinced, that abo- 
lishing the law of Patronage altogether might be a 
means of getting the Church of Scotland out of her 
present complicated difficulties. 

Wednesday, 19th August 1840. — Dr Chalmers 
brought out a pamphlet on the present state of the 
Church of Scotland question, entitled, What ought 
the Church and the People of Scotland to do now ? " 
It is able and well-timed. 

Tuesday, 22d September 1840. — At Glasgow, Dr 
Chalmers read to the Statistical section of the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science, a paper 
on the Application of Statistics to Moral and Eco- 
nomical questions, and also on the Pauperism of 
Glasgow, in which he gave an account of what some 
years ago he would have called his eocperiments, 
but which, to use his own words, had now passed 
into the category of experience, regarding the best 
mode of the treatment of the pauperism of large cities. 
He concluded his papers by stating that Professor 
Alison had been his antagonist in this matter, and he 



288 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 

had but one object — the best possible means of ele- 
vating the condition of their fellow-creatures. 

Wednesday, 23d September 1840. — A public dinner 
was given to the Marquis of Breadalbane at Glasgow, 
in testimony of his manly and disinterested advocacy 
of the spiritual independence of the Church of Scot- 
land and the rights of the Christian people — the Lord 
Provost of Glasgow in the chair — about five hundred 
gentlemen present. Dr Chalmers said — I know some- 
what of the fell severity — I could almost have said of 
the terrors — of that conflict which Lord Breadalbane 
has so manfully sustained for the liberties of our 
Church and the best interests of our country. In my 
humbler walk, I have breathed enough in the stormy 
elements of debate, and I know enough what those 
sinkings of the heart are, when, without the encourage- 
ment of friendly countenance, one is called upon to lift 
his testimony for what he deems to be some great cause 
of truth and righteousness. Our principle is, that no 
minister shall be intruded into a congregation contrary 
to the will of the people. . . . The subject put in my 
hand here is. Union with Evangehcal Dissenters. We 
are fully aware of the value of the Dissenters — we 
know the immense moral services they have rendered 
to Scotland. It is impossible to look back on the his- 
tory of the last hundred years without admitting grate- 
fully that, in what has been termed the middle age of 
our Church — its days of darkness and degeneracy 
— these Dissenters formed the pervading and preser- 
ving salt which has preserved throughout our land the 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 289 

Christianity of humble hfe, and the faith and the piety 
of our cottage patriarchs. We are all agreed on the 
precious doctrine of the atonement, and on the no less 
precious doctrine of regeneration. We all hold that, 
when a man is justified by faith, he is judged by works, 
and that he must have an interest in the Spirit that 
sanctifies as well as in the Saviour that died for us. 
We all hold the Bible to be the onlv rule of faith and 
manners, and we are substantially at one in our inter- 
pretation of that Bible. Tell me a single point of dif- 
ference between us that possesses one-millionth part, 
one insignificant fraction, of the importance that belongs 
to the truths I have now enumerated. Have we not 
that common faith which opens the door of heaven to 
us all ? Why then should we fall out in the way that 
leads to it ? And would it not be far more beautiful, if, 
giving up the unseemly spectacle of those animosities 
which minister triumphs to the infidels, we join forces, 
and make common cause against the growing impiety 
and wickedness of the land ? I will not relinquish the 
hope of a conclusion of all our present differences, and 
that some high achievement of charity, and a great 
and noble sacrifice at the shrine of true Christian 
patriotism, is still awaiting us. The asperities of that 
warfare which years ago raged on every side of us, are 
surely not to last for ever. Peace and charity must 
come at length to be the lords of the ascendant ; and 
the storm that now darkens and disturbs our moral 
atmosphere, will, we trust, have the eff'ect to purify 
and not to destroy. I have the animating hope, under 

T 



290 REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALZ^IERS. 

the blessing of God, of a liappy coalition, when, instead 
of those unseemly contentions between the ministers 
of our common faith, over Trhich contentions both 
Popery and Infidehty, those daughters of the Philis- 
tines, rejoice — we trust that, instead of this, the 
light of a moral jubilee shall rise again to gladden all 
the towns and parishes of our once happy, and harmo- 
nious, and well-conditioned Scotland. 

Friday, 3d October 1840. — Dr Chalmers concluded 
a short series of lectures at Greenock on Education, 
which, two years before, he had, at the sohcitation of 
the mechanics of that town, agreed to dehver. His 
fa*st was wholly on the Education of Principle, which he 
held as important beyond science and everything else, 
as it had to do with the founding of a rehgious basis, 
on which alone a noble edifice could be reared. His 
second and thu^d lectures were chiefly on Chemistry, in 
which he experimented with the proficiency of one 
familiar with the work, though he told his audience it 
was more than thirty years since he had studied the 
science. In the dehvery of this com'se he was assisted 
by Dr Adam Anderson, Professor of Xatural Philosophy 
in the University of St Andrews. At the conclusion of 
the lectures, Dr Chalmers presented the Mechanics' 
Institute of Greenock with a copy of all his pubhshed 
works ; and on the same day a pubhc meeting was held, 
at which it was agreed to present Dr Chalmers and 
Dr Anderson with a piece of plate, as a mark of re- 
spect for their kindness in delivering this com^se. 
Wednesday, 4:th November 1840. — Had an inter- 



REMmSCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



291 



view with Dr Chalmers at his class, and heard his in- 
troductory lecture for the session 1840-41. Congra- 
tulated him on not leaving Edinburgh, it having been 
proposed to remove him to the Divinity chair in the 
University of Glasgow. AYe had a conversation on 
his ha™g recently dehvered a course of lectures on 
chemistry, after a lapse of nearly forty years. He 
said he felt his hand rather awkward at chemical 
experiments after so long an interval, blowing soap 
bells and other manipulations. 

Thursday, 21st January 1841. — Mr Edwards in- 
ducted as minister of Marnoch by the seven ministers 
of the Presbytery of Strathbogie, who had been sus- 
pended from their ministerial functions by their own 
ecclesiastical courts. 

Tuesday, 2oth May 1841. — Heard Dr Chalmers 
speak an hour in the General Assembly on the ques- 
tion of the Abolition of Patronage. He said — You 
have no Scripture for patronage. It is a plant planted 
by the hands of men, and has no express or positive 
sanction in either the Old or Xew Testaments. There 
is many a form in church-government which the Bible 
has not pronounced upon, but left in a state quite open 
to be judged by circumstances, and to be shone on by 
the light of experience and common sense.... Patronage 
may be regarded as a vital question in England and 
in Scotland, though it miolit be reo;arded in that lio;ht 
nowhere else in Christendom. In concludino;, he said 
— I am of the same mind with the good Philip Henry, 
who, when he was driven out of the Establislnnent 



292 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



into Nonconformity, mourned to the end of his days 
the lack of opportunity of Christian usefulness under 
which he laboured, for want of that great resource of 
a Christian church — the want of parish order. 

Thursday, 21th May 1841. — The General Assem- 
bly took up the case of the seven suspended ministers of 
Strathbogie, Dr Chalmers said — ^The question between 
us and the ministers of Strathbogie is, not whether the 
Veto is a good or bad law, but whether disobedience 
to their ecclesiastical superiors is a good or bad action. 
They hold it to be good, because what they did, in dis- 
obedience to an ecclesiastical, was done in obedience to 
a civil, mandate. This lands us in another question 
—In a thing strictly ecclesiastical, as the ordination of 
a minister, or the dispensation of a sacrament, if the 
civil court gives one order, and the ecclesiastical an- 
other — whether disobedience to the latter, that you 
may obey the former, be a right or a wrong principle ? 
We have conjured up this question, not with the view 
of prosecuting it to its conclusion — that has been already 
done a thousand times over. It is a truly mysterious 
visitation which has come upon the Church of Scotland, 
when she was not only rapidly enlarging herself, but, 
in a manner palpable to all, was in the full career of 
increasing usefulness. To speak only of that depart- 
ment which I best know — the scheme of Church-exten- 
sion — and the noble rate at which she was making 
way among thousands who were beyond the pale of 
gospel ministrations and gospel ordinances, and down- 
ward amongst the lowest classes of the people, thus 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



293 



giving solidity and strength to the basis of the com- 
munity. We were looking at the steady advance of 
this great cause, as it walked in its successive footsteps, 
and reclaimed section after section of our outfield ter- 
ritory, accomplishing, we have no doubt, on a goodly 
number of human beings, the great and primary end 
of Christianity, even the salvation of their souls ; while 
on a still greater number it realised the secondary 
blessings of education, and regularity, and improved 
habits, both moral and economical. It was impossible 
to witness the progress of such a cause, coming 
actually and experimentally before our eyes, without 
the most confident anticipations of such great and 
glorious results — whether in the reformation of the 
people or the reduced pauperism of the land — as might 
in a few years have overpowered the conviction of all, 
and enlisted every head and every heart on the side of 
our EstabHshment, which had thus acquitted itself as 
the powerful dispenser of religion and virtue among 
the people ; but these woful differences have inter- 
rupted all — have distempered ail ; and, at a time when 
so much was doing, it is sad to think that, by an un- 
expected collision between the civil and ecclesiastical 
courts, a cruel arrest is laid on all this prosperity, and 
the fair vision of our fondest hopes is scattered into 
fragments. But if we would get at the true solution 
of this perplexity — the true explanation of a pheno- 
menon otherwise so baffling — we must look further and 
higher than to secondary causes, and onward and 
upward from the controversy which the Chm^ch has in 



294 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



the world, to the controversy which God has with the 
Church. It would soften the asperities of the earthly, 
the lower warfare, did we look and Usten more to the 
wisdom that is from above, by which, while we are 
told to quit us like men and to be strong, we are also 
told that all things should be done with charity ; 
and we are further certified that the wrath of man 
worketh not the righteousness of God ; — yet let us not 
forget that this same wisdom from above is first pure, 
then peaceable ; or that, giving the former a preferable 
claim to our regard, we must not forego purity for the 
sake of peace — we must not heal this unhappy breach 
by a sacrifice of principle. 

A vote of the Assembly then took place on Dr 
Chalmers's motion, finding the libel relevant and 
proven, and a counter-motion by Dr Cook ; — 222 voted 
for the motion of Dr Chalmers, 125 for Dr Cook's ; 
majority, 97. In the evening Dr Chalmers moved 
that the seven suspended clergymen of Strathbogie 
be deposed. This was seconded by Dr Brown of 
Langton. The motion of Dr Chalmers was agreed to 
without a vote. Dr Thomas Brown of Glasgow was 
called on to engage in prayer ; after which Dr Gordon, 
the Moderator, pronounced the sentence of deposition. 
Such was the public interest excited by this important 
case, that the court was crowded the whole day, and 
numbers surrounded the door outside — the subject 
being full of momentous consequences to Scotland. 

Wednesday, 25th August 1841. — An extraordinary 
meeting of the Commission of the General Assembly, 



re:^iixiscexces of dr chalmers. 



295 



held to determine on the measures most proj^er to be 
adopted for bringmg the present aspect of Church 
affairs before the Leo;islature and the country, as a 
great crisis was eyidently approaching, such as had not 
occurred for one or two centuries, if ever, before, in 
the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. After Dr Mac- 
farlane of Greenock had moved resolutions, which 
were seconded by Dr Brewster of Craig, Dr Chalmers 
said — Certain it is, that one of the principles for which 
we have of late zealously contended is, that there 
ought to be a national esta-blishm.ent of Christianity ; 
but there are times and occasions when even this must 
give way to a higher principle. It did give way at the 
time of the Reformation, when our ancestors renounced 
the Estabhshment of their day, because there was in 
it the deadly flaw of Popery : and it must give way 
anew, should we, their descendants, be compelled to 
renounce the Establishment of our day, because there 
is in it the deadly flaw of Erastianism. ... A great ques- 
tion is on its trial, whether a Church, connected by 
temporalities with the State, can or cannot maintain 
its spiritual independence. If it can, the cause of reli- 
gious estabhshments will be placed on an impregnable 
foundation to the end of the world. If it cannot, that 
essential principle of corruption will prove an element 
of weakness, which sooner or later must lead to their 

overthrow Still, it is not we who are responsible for 

the demolition of the fabric, or for the evils which that 

event must bring upon society They have been the 

moral means of that consummation who have given 



296 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



effect to the cry of the Voluntary — that a State estab- 
lishment of Christianity is a moral nuisance Our so- 
lemn duty — I feel it powerfully — our solemn duty is, 
to do all that in us lies for averting this catastrophe ; 
and Heaven forbid that we should hasten it by any 
indiscretion or deed of violence on our part. . . . These 
charges may be laid, and indeed have been laid, against 
us already, merely because we deem our principles of 
higher force than aught which relates to our private 
or personal interests. This we cannot help — and we 
must not, we dare not, and we will not try to help it, 
even though the powers which first conferred her tem- 
poral privileges and distinctions upon the Church 
should now be pleased to recal them, and we should 
be declared to have forfeited, at their hands, the title 
and privileges of the Established Church of Scotland. 
We will not resign the higher title of the Church of 
Christ, nor will we quit our ancient hold on the name 
and national appellative of the Church of our own be- 
loved land. God, the same God who turneth the 
hearts of men whithersoever he will, can make even 
our enemies to be at peace with us. He can awaken 
in their giant strength the principles and recollections 
of other days ; and the country will tell, amidst the 
fragments of a system disjointed and broken up, which 
is the likest to the Church of their fathers, when, with 
one without an endowment, we are known and read of 
all men as a Won-Erastian Church." — The resolutions 
were adopted, with only two dissenting, in a meeting 
consisting of nearly two hundred members. 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHAL]VIERS. 



297 



In accordance with the resolutions adopted at this 
meeting, in September 1841 a memorial was pre- 
sented to Su' Eobert Peel, as Premier, and the other 
members of her Majesty's Government, signed by 
Robert Gordon, D.D., as Moderator of the General 
Assembly of the Church of Scotland, laying before the 
Government the views entertained by the Church re- 
garding the origin and nature of her present difficul- 
ties, in the hope of removing the misapprehensions to 
which alone, as she conceived, it was to be ascribed, 
that the Chm^ch had been so long abandoned to a state 
of extreme embarrassment — now converted into one of 
imminent danger. The memorial proceeded to shew 
very distinctly that it was the invasion of the Non-in- 
trusion principle, and of the spiritual independence of 
the Church, that had led to this unhappy colhsion. 
A deputation, consisting of the venerable Dr Gordon 
and others, waited on Sir Robert Peel personally. The 
Duke of Argyll, Su^ George Sinclair, and other well- 
intentioned individuals, at this stage attempted to settle 
this questio vexata on the principle of what was called 
the liherum arbitrium, but all proved abortive ; and 
another serious difficulty havino^ occurred, owins; to a 
majority of the Presbytery of Garioch, in what was 
called the Culsalmond case, also chsobeying their eccle- 
siastical superiors, the year 1841 closed with the pros- 
pect of a great Disruption in the Church of Scotland. 

Tuesday, 11th January 1842. — Called on Dr Chal- 
mers ; we had a walk together. He is always full of 
kind and benevolent feehno" on any matter you consult 



298 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



him regarding, especially of a religious character. 
Asked his advice in the case of a venerable and dearly- 
beloved relative, a man of an excellent head and heart, 
who had been actively engaged all his life in the busi- 
ness and pursuits of the world, but had his mind now 
very strongly drawn to see and feel the supreme impor- 
tance of the one thing needful, but his natural large 
cautiousness filled him, under these circumstances, with 
anxiety and alarm. Dr Chalmers on this told us of an 
old man he had once visited in Fife, whose mind was in 
the same state as that of our relative; and he (Dr 
Chalmers) spoke to him of the fulness and freeness of 
the gospel; and when he next went to see him, some 
time after, addressed him — " Well, John, how are 
you to-day?" ''Ah, sir," said he, with a smile on 
his face, " all is now right — that little word all has 
done it ; — ' Come unto me all ye that labour and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' ' Look unto 
me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.' " 
Dr Chalmers took a ready and deep interest in what 

we had stated to him, and said, " Ah, sir, your 's 

is an interesting case — a very interesting state !" And 
on asking him what he would recommend him to read, 
he suggested the Scripture promises, and Erskine on 
the Fulness and Freeness of the Gospel, and two 
tracts published by Dr Charles Stuart, * which he said 
Dr Gordon would give the titles of. He behoved Mr 

* Tliese tracts were originally published by Dr Cbaries Stuart of Dun- 
earn, with a preface, in the year 1790, and they form Nos. 294 and 295 
of the London Religious Tract Society. Mr Horatius Bonar of Kelso, in 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



299 



Bonar had got ne^v editions of tliem printed. AVe 
afterwards learned these were Rest in Christ and 
Hindrances to Believing the Gospel, These works 
we obtained copies of soon after, and left them with the 
dear friend for whose benefit Dr Chalmers had recom- 
mended them, and thej^ proved very salutary and 
valuable. 

Wednesday, 26th January 1842. — Dr Chalmers 
spoke at a meeting of the Presbytery of Edinburgh, 
in favour of the abolition of patronage. Dr Gordon 
moved, and Dr Chalmers seconded, an overture to the 
General Assembly, for repealing the acts establishing 
patronage. He said, The veto law had required 
the threefold concurrence of patron, presbytery, and 
people, and under the admmistration of it the Church 
had broken forth into a state of vigour and vital pros- 
perity, of which there was no previous example in our 
land since the days of the first and second Reforma- 
tions. It worked admirably in practice ; under it the 
Church was making yearly advances upon the popula- 
tion, and against the infidelity and vice which are alike 
destructive to the souls of men and to the peace and 
order of the commonwealth. ... I am borne out by 
historical truth when I state that it was prolific of the 
greatest blessings to society. . . . The times are now 
when the Church is on the side of the people, and very 

1847 broiiglit out a new edition of them under the title of Brief Thoughts 
on the Gosxjel. In an introduction^ he gives theii' history, and states 
that they were originally wi'itt en by Samuel Pike, and first published 
about 1760. Mr Bonar also appended to them some valuable notes. 



300 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



many of the patrons are against them I see nothing 

that can extricate us from the difficulty, but that the 
people be called and restored to the place which they 
held in the first ages of the Christian Church, and in 
the best and most flourishing periods of the Church of 
Scotland." — He concluded by saying, " Circumstances 
have brought the Church into contact and busy con- 
verse with the politicians of this world. It is her part 
to maintain the most perfect simplicity and godly sin- 
cerity in all her transactions with them ; and, if her 
ways please God, he will make even her deadliest 
enemies to be at peace with her." 

Friday, 11th March 1842. — Went with the Lord 
Provost of Edinburgh (Sir James Forrest), Lord Rec- 
tor of the University, to hear Dr Chalmers lecture at 
his class as Professor of Theology. The lecture was on 
Romans, on the conversion of the Jews. On the Lord 
Provost's arrival at the class, Dr Chalmers came down 
from his pulpit or rostrum, and received him as Lord 
Rector. The students gave some hearty cheers on the 
occasion. 

Ihiesday, 15th March 1842. — A debate occurred in 
the House of Commons on the Church of Scotland 
question. Mr Fox Maule stated the case very clearly 
in a condensed form : " He maintained that the Church 
of Scotland, from the year 1567, down to the present 
time, by her presbyteries, her synods, and her Gene- 
ral Assembly, had a distinct and independent spiritual 
jurisdiction secured to her by acts of Parhament, one 
after another, with which, according to the Act of 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



301 



Union, neither a court of law nor Parliament was 
allowed to interfere.'*' 

Tuesday, 12th April 1842. — A meeting of tlio 
Synod of Glasgow and Ayr was held, at which Dr 
Leishman of Govan produced a declaration, signed by 
forty members, expressmg theh^ willingness to accept 
of such a measure as Siv George Sinclair had pro- 
posed for settling the affah^s of the Church of Scotland. 
We mention this circumstance, as it was believed that 
this declaration led Government to suppose thcit, 
although the prayer of the memorial of the Church 
of Scotland, presented to Sir Robert Peel, was not 
acceded to, very few clergymen would leave the 
Estabhshed Church. In the future proceedings, this 
party came to be designated The Forty.'' 

Monday, 2M May 1842. — At the General Assembly. 
Dr Chalmers spoke on the patronage question. He 
said — '^1 do not subscribe to the maxim. Vox popidi, 
vox Dei; but the tiling wliich leads me to prefer popu- 
lar election, is the profound and exquisite adaptation 
which obtains between the truths of the gospel and 
the exigencies of human conscience. I don't speak of 
the conscience of a people whose rehgious character 
has not been tried and ascertained. . . . Neither non- 
intrusion, nor spiritual independence, it seems now to 
be shewn, can at all consist with the existence of 
patronage ; and, therefore, looking to its moral results 
and mischievous bearing, I feel satisfied that we can 
only arrive at a satisfactory adjudication of this ques- 
iion by the entire abolition of patronage.*' 



302 



EE^imSCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



It was now deemed proper to make a final appeal to 
Parliament against the encroachments of the civil upon 
the ecclesiastical courts of Scotland ; and the prepara- 
tion of this important document was committed to Mr 
Alexander Dunlop, advocate, who drew it up in a 
powerful argumentative and dispassionate tone, under 
the designation of the Claim of Rights, 

Tuesday, 24th May 184.2, — At the General Assem- 
bly, Dr Chalmers said, — Moderator, I am glad that 
the putting forth of a Claim of Rights should be moved 

for I liked the proposal from the time I first heard 

of it, and more than ever are we now shut up to the 

necessity of such a measure The Court of Session 

persists in, nay, is fast multiplying, her encroachments. 
. . . But the crowning necessity for a large, full, and 
formal representation of our case before the country 
at large, is — that we have been refused a hearing by 
Parliament. . . . The disposition in high places is to leave 
the Church altogether in the hands of the Court of 
Session, to proceed against her ad libitum, or to any 
extent that might seem unto them good ; and this is 
called leaving the law to take its course. They would 
abandon one court to the entire mercy and discretion 
of another ; and this they term being satisfied with the 
law as it stands. . . . The question whether each court 
might not have its own proper and certain hmits pre- 
scribed by the constitution, or whether these limits 
might not possibly, yea, have not actually, been trans- 
gressed, — this is a question which they have not looked 
at, and will not listen to Thus given up, thus aban- 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



303 



cloned, it seems our last expedient to make the solemn 
appeal which we now meditate, to the intelligence, and 

the conscience, and the good faith of all men Most 

assuredly, the last man in our empire whom I should 
like to alienate from our cause, is he* who has the 
power, and I think the wisdom, had he but the leisure, 
to resolve and to extricate the problem of our difficul- 
ties. — He concluded by saying, — I trust, sir, that we 
shall be found from first to last to have acted purely, 
and honourably, and Christianly ; and that the faith- 
ful ministers of the Church of Scotland will be enabled 
to realise the saying that Wisdom is justified of all 
her children." — The adoption of the Claim of Rights 
was carried in the Assembly by 241 to 110. 

Tuesday, 9th August 1842.— The House of Lords 
pronounced a final judgment in a second Auchterarder 
case, whereby the courts of the Church of Scotland 
became liable to be coerced by the civil courts. This 
was held to be so vitally important, and fatal to the 
privileges and powers of the Church, in the anxious 
conflict that had been going on, that it was resolved to 
summon a solemn convocation of those ministers of 
the Church of Scotland who had been contending for 
the principles of non-intrusion and the spiritual inde- 
pendence of the Church. 

Thursday, 17th November 1842. — Dr Chalmers 
preached a sermon, at St George's Church, to the 
convocation of the Scottish clergy, summoned to 
Edinburgh on the afi'airs of the Church. It was an 

^ Sir Robert Peel, then Prime Minister. 



p04 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



eloquent, simple, and beautiful discourse, from 112tli 
Psalm, 4tli verse — Unto the upright there ariseth 
light in the darkness." He said — If we have the grace 
to do what is right, Ave shall see that it is right. There 
is an action and re-action between the moral and intel- 
lectual parts of our nature. . . . There is a magnificent 
passage in Isaiah, where he tells of the importance of 
acts of charity. . . . The commandment of the Lord not 
only guides aright « but enlightens the understanding. 
. . . There is a marvellous harmony between the eco- 
nomy of nature and the economy of grace, causing the 
Word of God to shine as a lamp before him. . . . He 
adapts his administration to all the exigencies of our 
nature — teaching us to strike out the path of duty. 
At another time. He is pleased when we do all we can, 
and He follows it up with larger powers and larger 
manifestations. . . . The Holy Spirit shall be given to 
them who obey God. ... If made to do aright, we are 
also made to see aright, if it is our single wish and in- 
tense desire to find out and do the will of our hea- 
venly Father, — helpless without His aid, and cleaving 
to Him as all our desire, — singling out this — if any of 
you lack wisdom, ask, but ask in faith. . . . Evangelical 
Christianity, many say, is a doctrinal system — ^it is both 
a doctrinal and practical system — the doctrinal casts 
back a reflex influence on the other, and they become 
antecedents and consequents alternately. ... In the 
case of Augustine, so long as the appetite retained its 
mastery, he was dark ; but when he gave up the for- 
bidden pleasure, he got the full use of his faculties. . . . 



REMmiSCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 305 

In the case of Jonathan Edwards, he tells us in his 
diary that seasons of greatest temptation were followed 
up by his seasons of brightest views. . . . There is a re- 
ligious version of the proverb, Where there is a will 
there is a way," If it be your intent desire to do the 
will of God, He will open up a way for you. . . . What 
is the darkness in which you are now involved ? . . . 
The well-known effect of complication is to obscure a 
subject. ... Our Church question, if not made up, is at 
least mixed up, of many elements. . . . We often are 
presented with a learned discourse on temjjoralities 
and spiritualities, giving us at least a new nomencla- 
ture. . . . Many thmk it is a helpless and irreducible 
question. . . . There may be a semblance of a collision 
without a reality. . . . First, be pure, and then peaceable. 
. . . Obey God, is a duty; so is it to obey magistrates. 
. . . There may be a collision between these. . . . Then 
comes in a great principle, which, like the rod of 
Aaron, swallows up all — Obey God rather than man, 
. . . There is a darkness that may come in with selfish 
interests. ... It sits fast on the minds of the sordid or 
the fearful. ... If you persevere in the high walk of 
uprightness, the secularities may be wrested from 
your hands. ... I speak to men ready to lose all — to 
surrender all. . . . The moral preparation will have a 
beneficial effect on your doing and seeing aright. 
God will not abandon to darkness those who cast their 
care on him, and say, I will not fear what man can do 
to me. Commit, then, thy thoughts to the Lord — He 

maketh wise the simple. Make the Bible the supreme 

u 



306 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 

directory of your hearts and consciences. . . . You may 
be an object of derision and contempt to the world, 
but God will lead you right. " Though a host should 
encamp against me, my heart shall not fail : in the 
secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me." 

Thursday, 2U]i November 1842.— At Lady Glen- 
orchy's Church in the evening. It was the last meet- 
ing of the convocation of the Scottish clergy. Dr 
Thomas Brown of Glasgow presided. Dr Candlish, 
with great energy and power, narrated the proceed- 
ings of the convocation ; four hundred and twenty- 
seven ministers have signed resolutions demanding a 
legislative remedy — boldly facing the alternative of 
leaving the Established Church in the event of this 
being refused. A memorial on the subject had been 
prepared and forwarded to Sir Robert Peel, First 
Lord of the Treasury, signed by Dr Chalmers, as 
chairman of the convocation of ministers. 

Wednesday, Ath January 1843. — Called on Dr Chal- 
mers — had a conversation with him — and heard him 
lecture to his theological class, on the natural man 
being alienated from God — the atheism of the heart. 

Sir James Graham, as Secretary of State for the 
Home Department, wrote to Dr Welsh, Moderator of 
the General Assembly, a long letter, in reply to the 
memorial against the encroachments of the Court of 
Session on the spiritual jurisdiction of the Church, 
and the address to the Queen in favour of the aboli- 
tion of Church patronage in Scotland. The answer 
was decidedly unfavourable on the part of the exist- 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



307 



ing Government to both of these. Dr Welsh imme- 
diately convened the Special Commission of the General 
Assembly, which met, and adopted a minute, express- 
ing regret that the Government should have treated 
the two documents referred to as one ; as the first 
concerned a matter which, if protection and redress 
were not granted, would lead to an abandonment of 
the benefits and privileges of the Establishment ; 
whilst the second, though earnestly sought after, was 
not essential to the subsistence of the Establishment. 

Tuesday, ^Ist January 1843. — At meeting of the 
Commission of General Assembly in the High Church, 
called by request of the Special Commission. Heard 
Dr Chalmers for an hour on Sir James Graham's 
letter. He said — " I have the greatest possible dis- 
like to pettifogging negociations ; and, when great 
principles are involved, they ought to be utterly put 
to scorn. I always do lament anything like an indi- 
cation of an inclination to have the affair huddled up ; 
for the Church may rest assured, that although by 
such a plan she might be left the semblance of free- 
dom, she would still be left open to the unrestrained 
incursion of a power against which the strongest mu- 
nitions of ecclesiastical law would be of no avail to 
her. Recollect that it is not in one point only, but in 
all, that we are assailed. The ancient wall of circum- 
vallation that protected us in former days has all been 
broken down; and it is not by erecting one buttress 
here and another there, that you will build it up again, 
and make it even as secure as formerlv. For mv 



308 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



part, I can see no effectual remedy but in having the 
principle of Lord Karnes generalised. That would 
enable us to get the better of all pretended difficulties 
as to deciding what is civil and what is ecclesiastical. 
The very interdicts of the Court of Session would 
greatly help us in deciding that point. Why, there are 
the school-house, the church, the churchyard, the 
manse, the glebe, and the stipend — these things are 
civil, and so the interdicts have declared. If there are 
more ' civil ' things than these, I would thank any 
man who knows them to point them out. And thus, I 
think, without drawing anything like a metaphysical 
line of demarcation between the one class of objects 
and the other, something tantamount to such a line is 
obtained in the very list of the things composing the 
one class. ... I hope that the practical policy of the 
Christian people of Scotland will be as vigorous and 
as strenuous now as if the certainty were staring 
them in the face that the Scottish Establishment is 
to come down — that they will be as energetic and 
determined in taking measures to provide the means 
of sustentation for the original Presbyterian Church 
of Scotland, as if the final sentence had gone forth 
against us. It is a most cruel and mischievous policy 
to defer the work of preparation at such a time as the 
present ; and it is absurd to say that our preparing 
for the worst will at all precipitate or hasten on the 
crisis. It must, I should think, have a directly con- 
trary effect. If anything will avert the crisis, it will 
assuredly be the spectacle of a united Christian nation 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



309 



resolving, that when their ministers are driven for 
conscience' sake out of the Estabhshment, they shall 
be maintained and continued in their usefulness, and 
their evangehcal services still preserved to the land — 
determined never to let down their efforts till they 
have made Scotland an experimental garden, covered 
with churches and with schools. I have no hope my- 
self of a favourable issue to our struo^o-le. Men won't 
see what we want, and therefore can't give us Avhat 
we seek. I don't know a greater fatigue — it must be 
worse than a smith wielding a fore-hammer cill day — 
than that of operating upon impracticable understand- 
ings. I have occupied a number of ostensible situa- 
tions in connexion with the Church ; and after all the 
correspondence I have had with this lord and that 
member of Parliament — and it is not little — I have 
given up in despair all hope of making them mider- 
stand how it is the best possible tiling in the ch'cum- 
stances, and the most politic for the interests of the 
country, to have a clergy paid by the State, and yet 
acceptable to all the people of the land." 

The Commission adopted petitions to Parhament, 
praying for redress. The one to the Peers was in- 
trusted to the Duke of Aro^vll : the other, to Mr Fox 
Maule. 

Tuesday^ Itli February 1843. — Accompanied Dr 
Chalmers to his new house at Churchhill, Morning- 
side, where he is now residing. He mentioned the 
financial preparations for the Disruption — Mr Brown 
Douglas's subscription of £500, and £200 per annum 



310 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



besides — and other liberal donations. He was in liigli 
spirits. 

Thursday, 16th February 1843. — Dr Chalmers 
delivered an address in Roxburgh Church, Edinburgh, 
to a crowded audience, on the duty of the people in 
the present crisis, and the plan for organising and 
supporting a Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, 
in the event of a disruption. He said — " This meet- 
ing is not for argument, but for action The time 

for argument is now over, and, instead of adding 
another to the number of our reasonings, my single 
object now is to multiply our doings. We have en- 
tered upon a new era — the era of deeds — which has 
followed the era of speeches, and arguments, and 
memorials, and manifestoes, and verbal controversies. 
. . . We are nearly done, I hope, now with these dis- 
tant missiles, and we have reason to think that we 
shall now come to close quarters." 

Thursday, 23d February 1843. — Dr Chalmers ad- 
dressed an auditory of ladies, at St Luke's Church, 
Edinburgh, on the local system of collecting money 
in aid of the Free Presbvterian Church. The Rev. 
Thomas Guthrie opened the meeting with praise and 
prayer. Dr Chalmers was full of fine homely elo- 
quence, and had all his old fire. 

Tuesday, 7th March 1843.— Mr Fox Maule moved 
in the House of Commons for a committee on the 
petition he had presented from the Church of Scot- 
land, which we have already mentioned as adopted 
at the Commission on 31st January last. In the 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



311 



course of the debate, Lord John Russell said — I am 
most sorry that so many members of the Church of 
Scotland feel themselves compelled to ask the House 
either to agree to certain terms, or to declare that, in 
case of a refusal, they must themselves cease to be 
members of the Establishment — thereby occasioning 
a most serious calamity to the country. ... I consider 
this a very great calamity which seems to be impending 
on this land, and more especially on its most northern 
part." — After a lengthened debate of two days, the 
House divided — ^76 for the motion, 211 against it. 
Of 37 Scottish members present, 25 voted for Mr 
Fox Maule's motion. This vote was considered de- 
cisive of the question; and, as has been already seen, 
Dr Chalmers, and those who had fought the battle 
along with him, were not unprepared for the result. 

Friday, 10th March 1843,^ — A great public meet- 
ing held in the City Hall of Glasgow to hear Dr 
Chalmers, on the duty of the friends of the Church at 
its present crisis. It was one of the most crowded 
and enthusiastic assembhes ever held in the western 
metropolis. Dr Chalmers delivered a powerful ad- 
dress — one of his happiest and ablest efforts — in 
which he explained his plans for the support of the 
proposed Free Church of Scotland, and concluded by 
saying — I knew Glasgow in the days of my greater 
vigour ; and now — now, in the feebleness of my lame 
and imperfect advocacy — I feel assured that the cause 
will not suffer even from my inadequate representation 
of it — a cause worthy of him whose 



312 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



' Resistless eloquence 
Wielded at will the fierce democracy. 
Shook the arsenal, and fulmined over Greece 
To Macedon and Artaxerxes' throne.' 

. . . Little did I think but that I should spend the re- 
mainder of my days in studious, and literary, and, let 
me add, devotional pursuits ; but these are extraordi- 
nary times, and enthusiasm is a virtue rarely to be 
met with in seasons of calm and unruffled prosperity. 
. . . Enthusiasm flourishes in adversity- — kindles in the 

hour of danger — and awakens to deeds of renown 

The terrors of persecution only serve to quicken the 
energy of its purposes. ... It swells in proud integ- 
rity, and, great in the purity of its cause, it can scat- 
ter defiance amid a host of enemies." 

Friday, VI th March 1843. — Dr Chalmers com- 
pleted sixty-three years of age. Congratulated him 
on reaching his grand climacteric ; he said, " Ah ! sir, 
it is a serious and important period of a man's life " — 
alluding to the physical constitution, and to the 
effect of the advance of years on the mental powers. 
Heard him lecture to his Theological class — his stu- 
dents cheered him on his entry — they had break- 
fasted together in honour of the day. Thus does this 
venerable man draw a halo of love around him in all 
the scenes he frequents. 

Wednesday, 29th March 1843. — A requisition had 
been presented to Dr Chalmers from the Duke of 
Argyll, the Marquis of Breadalbane, Mr Fox Maule, 
M.P., and a number of distinguished men, urging him 



REMmSCEXCES OF DK CHALMERS. 



313 



to deliver a course of lectures on the Church question 
in London. At first he entertained the idea, but he 
now thought it better to abandon it, at least for the 
present. 

Tliursday, 6th April 1843. — Dr Chalmers delivered 
his concluding lecture for the session, and, as it 
proved, his farewell lecture in the Divinity Hall, 
University of Edinburo4i, to a numerous audience, a 
great number of strangers being present, anxious to 
hear his concluding remarks. — He said — We have had 
to encounter the difficulties of a question, neither for 
endowments nor against them, but against that which, 
in the opinion of many, if attached to endowments, 
would not only despoil them of their value, but make 
them a Dioral nuisance, viz., the subjugation of the 
spiritual government of the Church to an earthly 
government. ... In the conduct of this business I was 
called to take a share, and sustained a most harassing 
correspondence with a Government not adverse to en- 
dowments, but seeking in return the surrender of the 
Church's liberty. . . . We cannot tell the course that 
events wiU now take — let it suffice that we keep a 
firm hold of our principles, and of Him who rules over 
all and subordinates all ; with the love of God in our 
hearts, which subordinates every other love, and the fear 
of God, which supplants every other fear. . . . Though 
in the near prospect of a separation I bid you farewell 
for a season, I will not bid you a conclusive farewell. 
It is true that, in all probability, the Church of our 
fathers will soon be two bodies : but this is only a 



314 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



division, not a dissolution ; and corresponding to this I 
look forward, not to the division of the Church only, 
but also to a division of Colleges. 

Wednesday, Ylth May 1843. — Edinburgh crowded 
— great excitement regarding the approaching events. 
The Scotsman, a well-known liberal newspaper, has 
wheeled to-day — praises the noble sacrifice about to 
be made by so many men ! The clergy have stood 
firm, and a protest will be tabled by Dr Welsh to- 
morrow, and the disruption formally take place. 

Thursday, 18th May 1843. — An eventful day in 
Edinburgh. Heard Dr Welsh the Moderator preach 
before the Commissioner, the Marquis of Bute, and the 
members of the last General Assembly of the Church 
of Scotland, in the High Church. His text was, " Be 
fully persuaded in your own mind." He remarked, 
that a day so important had not occurred there for 
two centuries. There was silent and intense interest 
manifested during his discourse. On its conclusion, the 
General Assembly adjourned to St Andrew's Church, 
George Street, where there had been a crowd from an 
early hour. At half past two o'clock, Dr Welsh 
arrived — took the chair, and opened the proceedings 
with prayer. He soon after rose and said — " Accord- 
ing to the usual form of procedure, this is the time 
for making up the roll ; but, in consequence of certain 
proceedings affecting our rights and privileges — pro- 
ceedings which have been sanctioned by her Majesty's 
Government, and by the Legislature of the country, 
and more especially in respect that there has been an 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



315 



infringement on the liberties of oiu" constitution, so that 
we could not iioiv constitute this court without a viola- 
tion of the terms of the union between Church and 
State in this land, as now authoritatively declared — I 
must protest against our proceeding further. The 
reasons that have led us to come to this conclusion are 
fully set forth in the document which I hold in my 
hand, and which, with permission of the House, 1 shall 
proceed to read." This he accordingly did ; it was 
listened to with breathless attention. Dr Welsh then 
handed it to the clerk, vacated the chair, and left the 
Assembly, followed by Dr Chalmers, Dr Gordon, 
Dr Macfarlane of Greenock, Dr Thomas Brown of 
Glasgow, and the Avhole body of adhering ministers 
and elders. The effect was striking, the whole audience 
gazing intently on the scene. They were received with 
enthusiasm as they went along to the large hall at 
Tanfield, Canonmills, which was already crowded. 
Here the scene was solemn and impressive ; three 
thousand people joined in prayer, after which Dr 
Welsh said — I feel assured that the eyes of every 
individual in this assembly, the eyes of the whole 
Church and country, the eyes of all Christendom, are 
directed to one individual, whom to name is to pro- 
nounce his panegyric. The extent of his labours in 
connexion with our present position would justly en- 
title Dr Chalmers — [at the m^ention of his name, the 
vast audience rose and cheered] — would justly entitle 
that great man to hold the first place in this our meet- 
ing. But surely it is a good omen — or I should rather 



316 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



say a token for good, from the great Disposer of all 
events, and the alone Head of the Church — that I can 
propose to hold this office an individual who, by the 
efforts of his genius and his virtues, is destined to hold 
so conspicuous a place in the eyes of all posterity. 
But this is taking a low view of the subject; his genius 
has been devoted to the service of his heavenly 
Master, and his is the high honour promised to those 
who, having laboured successfully in their Master's 
cause, and turned many to righteousness, are to 
' shine as the stars for ever and ever.'" 

The chair was then taken by Dr Chalmers, vfho 
said — Fathers and brethren, I deeply feel my inade- 
quacy for the labours of the office you have conferred 
on me ; I undertake it in fear, and in weakness, and 
in much trembling. But we have warrant, when 
urged by the feeling of insufficiency— we have war- 
rant for making a devout approach to Him in whom 
alone strength and sufficiency are to be found. I 
propose that we shall begin the business of this As- 
sembly by an act of worship — with praise and prayer 
to Almighty God, on the duties and prospects which 
lie before us." — Dr Chalmers then gave out the 43d 
Psalm, from the 3d verse, when all stood and sung 
the solemnising lines — 

0 send thy light forth and thy truth; 

Let them be guides to me, 
And bring me to thine holy hill, 

Ev'n where thy dwellings be.'^ 

Then all joined in prayer with Dr Chalmers — 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHAL:MERS. 



317 



their devotional feelino^s were evidently much ex- 
cited. The scene was like a dream — the immense 
area filled with people, all in earnest. Here, then, was 
established the Free Presbyterian Chm^ch of Scotland. 
May it prosper for the good of the people ! Dr Chal- 
mers then addressed the Assembly. He said — Let prin- 
ciple have its perfect work; let them beware of ceasmg 
to contend for the authority of Christ over the kings 
and governments of the earth. . . . The competent duty 
of kings and governments was to provide for the 
Christian instruction of the world . . . the men who stood 
opposed to them might be resting on the like precious 
foundation with themselves. Thev nuD-ht be men 
with whom thev mio^it differ, and with whom thev 
would a^ree to differ — men with whom thev could hold 
Christian communion, holding one faith, one hope, one 
Lord, one baptism ; but even for all that friendship, 
and all that confidence, thev ouo^ht not to violate the 
principles, or make surrender of the high grounds on 
which they had left them. 

''Here, in this very hall," said the distinguished mis- 
sionary, Dr Duff', when speaking in 1851, as Moderator 
of the Free Assembly, was the foundation-stone of the 
Free Protestingj- Church of Scotland laid, bv a man 
specially raised up for so momentous an occasion — a 
man in whose single personality seemed to be combined 
the indomitable valour of Knox, the learned philosophy 
of Melville, the seraphic ardour of Rutherford, and 
the practical, sage-like sagacity of Henderson." 

A few days before the Disruption of the Church of 



318 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 

Scotland, we met the learned sheriff of a northern 
Scottish county, who said—'' People are all speculating 
about how many ministers will give up their livings at 
the approaching crisis. What do you say?" We 
replied, '' Four or five hundred." Mr L — — said, 
" If you are serious, you had better go to Blackwood's 
and put down your number, and you may get the 
sweepstakes. There is a paper there where an indi- 
vidual writes down the number he thinks most prob- 
able, and he who has come nearest obtains the prize." 
We think he stated that a celebrated professor had 
put down 150, and his brother, to outwit him, 151. 
Mr L remarked, You are far above any num- 
ber I have heard named." This anecdote, taken in 
connexion with the following, well illustrates the very 
different views entertained at that period of the num- 
ber of disinterested men who would adhere to their 
principles at the expense of worldly sacrifice. 

It was related at a congregational meeting, and de- 
serves to be recorded among the memorabilia of the 
Disruption, both for its own sake, and as contrast- 
ing the opposite views which prominent public men 
of the period took of the " noblest deed of our time, 
and the noble men who did it." On the day — the 
memorable 18th May 1843 — when the Disruption of 
the Church of Scotland was expected to take place, 
there met two men well known in Edinburgh society, 

and to the country generally — the one Mr P 

R (now Lord P ), and the other Lord Jeffrey. 

Mr P was one of those who doubted the honesty 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



319 



and sincerity of the Jfon-intrusionists, and joined in 
the sneer of those who admitted that perhaps nine or 
ten of the men who had most deeply committed them- 
selves might come out. Mr R , along with Lord 

Jefrey, had gone that day to a place that overlooked 
the line of the expected procession, in the hope rather 
that sinister predictions might be verified, than that 
honour, and courage, and fidelity might be vindicated 
and exemplified. At last the long-looked-for moment 
arrived — the door of St Andrew's Church was opened, 
and there issued forth Chalmers, Welsh, and Macfar- 
lane, followed bv a lon^ continuous hne of hundreds 
of their less known but not less determined brethren, 
and the Church of Scotland was on the streets, and 
Free, The eye could not number the blackening 
train — the prediction was not fulfilled, and the result 
was the exclamation — The fools ! thus to leave their 
fat livings for a whim ! " Lord Jeffrey took a differ- 
ent view of the matter, and a truer and a nobler one. 
With deep emotion, his eye — that sharp piercing eye 
— filled with tears, he uttered the words — Thank 
God for my country ! there is not another country in 
the world where such a deed could have been done 

Friday, 19th May 1843. — At General Assembly 
of the Free Church of Scotland, Canonmills, the large 
hall was again crowded. The proceedings commenced 
with praise, a portion of the 122d Psalm being sung, 
the audience standing. The o5th chapter of Isaiah 
was read, and Dr Chalmers offered up a prayer, based 
on the text, Seeking mercy to pardon, and grace to 



320 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



help in time of need." Such was the unprecedented 
interest excited by the proceedings at the Free As- 
sembly, that the Witness newspaper, one of the most 
ably conducted in Great Britain, this day printed and 
circulated twelve thousand copies. 

Saturday, 20th May 1843. — At the Free Assembly, 
Canonmills, Dr Chalmers offered up an impressive 
prayer. He said — There is an alternative set before 
us in the New Testament, whether we shall be tried 
by our own righteousness, or the righteousness of 
Christ. May we never lose hold of that test of a 
falling or a standing church, that we are justified by 
faith alone. May we have that faith that is a work- 
ing principle — that works by love. Bring our empti- 
ness to the fulness that is in Jesus. We pray for the 
Protesting Church of Scotland. Give us the charity 
that endureth all things. Let us look to our Saviour's 
prayer in the seventeenth chapter of John." 

Dr Chalmers then made his report on the finances 
of the Free Church. There are already 687 local 
associations formed ; of these, 239 have reported their 
annual subscriptions as £17,525; and there have been 
264 donations to the Building Fund, amounting to 
£28,500; and to the General Sustentation Fund, annual 
subscriptions amounting to £40,000. The total dona- 
tions amount to about £105,000. This was a most 
encouraging report to the Free Church. Dr Chalmers 
said — I am sure it has been easier to do the thing than 
to convince the folk that it could be done. When I 
first propounded our financial schemes, there was a 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHAL:MERS. 



321 



good-natured leer of incredulity on many ; and for six 
weeks I was in a state of single-blessedness, in form- 
ing a local association at Morningside, haying no imi- 
tators, and thus felt my situation a httle painful, as if 
in a pillory ; but now that they had been followed by 
no less than 687 associations, we begin to feel our 
singularity sit very gracefully on us ; and if we do 
what we might, and ought, we will not only be able to 
repair the whole Disruption, but will get landed in the 
great and glorious work of Church-extension, and we 
shall not stop short, I trust, till the hght of the gospel 
be carried to every cottage-door within the limits of 

the Scottish territory You are familiar with the 

liberal, the large-hearted aspirations of John Knox, 
who desired a college for every great town, and a 
minister for every thousand of the population." 

Tuesday, 23d May 1843. — Dr Chalmers in the 
chair at a pubhc breakfast at the Eoyal Hotel, 
Edinburgh — about 160 present. The subject of conver- 
sation Avas the observance of the Sabbath. Dr Chal- 
mers, in the address he deUvered, said, — We read of 
the oldness of the record and the newness of the 
spirit. That which was originally graven on tables 
of stone is now graven on the fleslily tables of the 

heart Our aifections are now enlisted in obedience 

— the Christian loves all the opportunities of the day 

It is an incipient foretaste of the heaven that awaits 
him. . . . The love of the Sabbath is a more decisive 
e^ddence of regeneration than we are apt to imagine. 
At first view we have a tendency to attach the idea of 

X 



322 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



a ceremonial observance to the Sabbath, but it is now 

in the heart In the same way, the very nomenclature 

in which we couch our spiritual independence is per- 
haps offensive to English ears — the Headship of Christ. 
. . . They would let alone our pure constitution, if we 
would allow it to be viciously administered." 

In the course of the day at the Assembly of the Free 
Church — Dr Chalmers in the chair. The Deed of De- 
mission was read twice. All joined in prayer. It 
was solemnising and affecting. The names of the re- 
spective ministers — between four and five hundred — 
were called ; and they proceeded in bands of ten at a 
time, to sign this document — giving away their worldly 
all for conscience' sake. It is one of the finest and 
most subhme events in modern history : 

Did they 

Not feel that conscience never can betray — 
That peace of mind is virtne's sure effect ! — 
Their altars they forego, their homes they quit. 
Fields which they love, and paths they daily trod, 
And cast the future upon Providence ; 
As men, the dictate of whose inward sense 
Outweighs the world." 

Monday, 29th May 1843. — A public breakfast in 
Edinburgh, given to the friends belonging to other 
communions, then visiting the Scottish metropohs — 
about two hundred present — Dr Chalmers in the chair. 
He delivered an eloquent address. In the evening, 
went to the General Assembly of the Free Presby- 
terian Church, Canonmills. Heard Dr Chalmers read 



REMTN'ISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



323 



the report of the Committee. It vfas most gratifying 
— the amount subscribed exceeding the most sanguine 
expectations. As instances of individual hberahty, Dr 
Chalmers mentioned the ]\Iarchioness of Breadalbane, 
£1000; Mr Ewing of Glasgow, £2000; Mr James 
Nisbet, bookseller, London, £1000 ; and altogether 
there had been tendered, in about two months, an 
aggregate sum of nearly a quarter of a milUon ster- 
ling, for the support of the Free Presbyterian Church 
of Scotland! 

The Rev. Henry Grey very felicitously returned 
the thanks of the Assemblvto Dr Chalmers. He said — 

u 

" Our obligations to you are inexpressibly great ; they 
extend over many long years. . . . We cannot forget the 
fidelity, the zeal, and the success which attended your 
labours as a private minister of the Word, both in the 
country and in our great cities, where your ministra- 
tions made an effect on the countless multitudes 

which came to hear At that early period your fame 

and your praise were in all the churches We cannot 

forget your labours in a higher sphere, as a teacher of 
youth, in that high, and honourable, and responsible 
ofiice which you filled — shall 1 say lately, or now — in 
our university, where your instructions to the young, 
and your expositions in the theology of the Church, 
will live and speak when you have been gathered to 
your fathers. . . . We must not forget your labours in 
the cause of pauperism. I know something of your de- 
votedness in that cause; and I have often heard you say, 
that nothing was nearer your heart than the alleviation 



324 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



of the sufferings of the poor And what shall I say of 

your gigantic exertions in the cause of Church-exten- 
sion? By that scheme, the gospel has been planted in 
many a solitary hill and glen, where, without your aid, 

it would not have been heard But, above all, your 

service to the Church in connexion with the great 
cause which is identified with our presence here, en- 
titles you to the gratitude and thanks of this Assembly. 
. . . The wisdom of your suggestions, and the efficiency of 

your plans, have been tried, and have triumphed We 

were led to forget the bread that perisheth, and cling 
to the higher bread of eternal life." 

Tuesday, 30th May 1843. — At the General As- 
sembly of the Free Church, Canonmills, Dr Chalmers 
read a letter from William Campbell, Esq. of Tilly- 
chewan, forwarding a subscription of £2000 to the 
building fund. Dr Chalmers added, that if all this 
gentle cnan's benefactions to the Church were recounted, 
they would not come short of £15,000. Dr Chalmers 
then proceeded, as Moderator, to dissolve this memor- 
able Assembly. He began his address at eleven o'clock 
P.M., and finished near midnight. He adverted to the 
various interesting circumstances in which the 
Church was placed, and their great cause for humble 
and devout gratitude. In his closing prayer he said 
— Grant us the palpable evidence of the ministry, 
that many may be turned to righteousness. . . . We feel 
that we are surrounded with difficulties and dangers, 
but we will put our confidence in Thee. . . . May we 
never be abandoned by Thy guidance ! . . . We plead 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



325 



Thine own declaration, that if any man lack wisdom, 
let liim ask it of God." — There were about three 
thousand people present on this occasion. 

Wednesday, S\st May 1843. — At a dinner given to 
Dr Chalmers, as Moderator of the Free Church, at 
the Royal Hotel, Edinburgh — about two hundred 
gentlemen present, including several distinguished 
strangers and professors from foreign universities. 
At the special request of all present, Dr Chalmers 
took the chair, supported by the Lord Provost of 
Edinburgh ; Sir David Brewster, Principal of the 
United College, St Andrews ; Mr Graham Spiers, 
Sheriff of Mid-Lothian; and Mr Earle Monteith, Sheriff 
of the county of Fife. This meeting had been ar- 
ranged, without much premonition, to take place the 
day after the closing of this first memorable Assem- 
bly of the Free Church, and it had been proposed 
to place the old Moderator in the chair ; but all 
etiquette of this kind was abandoned, to enjoy the 
gratification of Dr Chalmers presiding. Had the 
meeting been thought of sooner, it was remarked that 
it would have been easy to have assembled a thousand 
of the elite of Scotland on the occasion ; but perhaps 
it was in better taste, and fuller of moral and intellec- 
tual enjoyment, with the quiet and happy two hun- 
dred who assembled ; and there was a peculiar charm 
in witnessing this distinguished man, in a new phasis, 
presiding over such a party — a scene quite calculated 
to bring out the rich and racy wit and humour with 
which his social hours abounded when his bow was 



S26 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



unbent. He commenced his conversational statements 
after dinner by saying, that really the usual mode of 
procedure at this Assembly seemed in everything to 
have been inverted — two hundred years ago, when a 
disruption took place, the Commissioner, the Marquis 
of Hamilton, rose and left the Assembly; but this 
year the General Assembly rose and left the Commis- 
sioner! and now, at this social assembly, the enter- 
tained was made to preside over the entertainers / . . . 
But feeling as he did, after the solemn, important, 
and fatiguing events of the last ten days, that his 
bodily and mental executive were well nigh ex- 
hausted, he must call on his friends around him to 
aid him in the speeches of the evening. 



REMINISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



327 



PAET y. 

1843-1847. 

Principal of tlie New College, Edinburgh. 

Tuesday, 11th July 1843. — ^Dr Chalmers appointed 
Principal and Primarius Professor of Divinity in the 
JTew College of the Free Church of Scotland. 

Thursday, 13th July 1843. — A large meeting at 
Canonmills Hall, commemoratino: the bicentenary of 
the Westminster Assembly — about two thousand pre- 
sent — Dr Chalmers in the chair. He spoke an hour, 
on co-operation and union among Christians. 

Sabbath, 23d July 1843. — -Eyening, sacramental 
occasion, at Dr Candlish's new church — Dr Chalmers 
officiated. He commenced the services by saying, in 
his own homely style of pronunciation, Let us wor- 
ship God by singing to His praise part of the hunderd 
and sixteent Psalm." He delivered a sermon from 
Jeremiah, 9th chapter, 20th verse — The harvest is 
past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." 
He commenced by saying — Let us take a man be- 



328 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



yond the full meridian of his days, indicated by his 
stoop, and the deepening twihght of his faculties 
shewing that the spirit is about to make its escape 
from the tabernacle. . . . The man may be free of all 
that is scandalously wrong in his character, yet he 
may be making a god of his money, or his bills, or 
his fame. . . . With no solid footing on the other side 
of death — with no clear view of the Saviour — ^he may 
still be a formalist in religion — a lover of ordinances. 
. . . When he thinks how he is ever lapsing into the 
earth-born creature that he was before, he may well 
say, ' My manhood is drawing to a close, and yet I 
am not saved.' . . . Even with the youngest, the causes 
of this moral result may be in operation; and in moral 
and spiritual diseases prevention is better than cure. 
. . . But God says, ' I will pour out my Spirit on you.' 
. . . The text speaks the same language as ' Remember 
thy Creator in the days of thy youth'— for mark the 
alternative—' lest the days come when ye shall say, 
I have no pleasure in them.' . . . Every act of delay in 
beginning in good earnest the work of providing for 
the soul stupifies the conscience — it plunges the whole 
man deeper and deeper into a state of apathy. . . . 
There is a celestial law by which the Spirit of God is 

given according to the uses that are made of it If 

there be any movement of conscience within you, this, 
for aught you know, may be a movement of that 
Spirit within you : by turning away from it, you may 
alienate the Spirit of God from you. ... If at any time 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 329 



the pathetic calls of salvation are more brought home 
to you than at another, it must be the occasion of that 
periodic solemnity when the memorials of our salva- 
tion are brought before you. ... If the cycles of your 
mental history immerse you only deeper in their 
week-day frivolities, a settled unconcern about your 
soul is the sure forerunner of an undone eternity. . . . 
Never is greater progress at any period made in spi- 
ritual advancement or spiritual degeneracy than at 
these solemn ordinances. . . . We hold it of highest 
importance the clause which says, he that keepeth 
the sayings of Christ shall be saved. . . . Have not the 
worthless aspirations of a, mere emotional religion — let 
prayer lead to performance. ... I may have sounded a 
note of alarm to some ; but forbid it, gra cious Heaven, 
that any should despair ! ... To all and to every one 
we say. Salvation may be yours, if you will. . . . Are 
you as willing for a present holiness as for a future 
heaven? then, if I understand the economy of God, 
there is not a hair's-breadth between you and salva- 
tion. . . . The object of the gospel message is goodwill 
to men — not to some, to certain men ; it is generally 
to man ; it recognises no outcast. . . . All who will may 
come and drink of the waters of life freely. . . . Draw 
near to God, and He will draw near to you. ... If 
you think otherwise of God, you look on Him with 
a jaundiced eye — you array Him in a darker shroud 
than He wears." 

Friday, 6th October 1843.— Dr Chalmers laid the 
foundation-stone of the Free Church at Moriiingside, 



330 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



near his residence.* He delivered an address which 
occupied nearly an hour. 

Tuesday, 17th October 1843. — The General As- 
sembly of the Free Church of Scotland met in the 
^ City Hall, Glasgow. It was the first meeting of 
Assembly held in that city since the famous one in 
1638, the one alluded to by Dr Chalmers at the 
entertainment given to him on 31st May ; and it 
excited great interest over the west of Scotland, num- 
bers of people from all quarters arriving in Glasgow 
to attend it. Dr Chalmers took the chair, as Mode- 
rator ; supported by the Marquis of Breadalbane, Mr 
Fox Maule, M.P., Sir David Brewster, Dr Welsh, Mr 
Guthrie, and Dr Malan of Geneva. He delivered a 
discourse which, it was remarked by the journals of 
the day, was characterised by all that depth and 
clearness of philosophic thought, aptness of illustra- 
tion and expression, and commanding eloquence, for 
which the venerable preacher was so renowned. His 
text was from Nehemiah, 11th chapter, 16th verse — 
And Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the chief of the 
Levites, had the oversight of the outward business of 
the house of God." 

Tuesday, 31st October 1843. — ^At Dr Candlish's 
church, Lothian Road, Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers de- 
livered a lecture on education, on opening the Free 
College, as Principal. He said — It is a great affair 

Dr Chalmers resided from 1838 to 1843 at Inverleith Row, but hav- 
ing built a very pleasant new residence at Churchhill, Momingside, lie 
took possession of it early in 1843. 



REIMINISCENCBS OF DR CHALMERS. 331 



to put the instrument of the mind into the proper 
way of acquiring knowledge. . . . There is a radical 
distinction between the powers of the mind and the 
acquiring of knowledge. ... If asked to fix on whether 
Latin or Greek were most important, we would 
feel a difiiculty, except that Greek gives access to the 
original text of the New Testament. . . . That language 
has been signalised as the great vehicle for conveying 
to us our Christian knowledge. 

" In mathematics, the mind is strengthened by the 
exercise of its reasoning powers. As a preparative, 
whether for the bar or the pulpit, we value mathe- 
matics more for what the mind caters by the way, 
than for all the spoils gathered at the landing-place. 
... To study geometry for one year we value more 
than logic. ... A class of logic like that of Jardine's 
at Glasgow might prove an excellent gymnasium for 
the mind ; and we want for the first year more a 
course of gymnastics to fit the mind for its succeeding 
courses of knowledge. . . . We prefer Aristotle's se- 
quence of Physics before the Morals. . . . Paley, for 
his masterpiece, his Natural Theology, did not study 
anatomy scientifically; and you would not order your 
students to study anatomy, though you would make 
his Natural Theology a text-book. ... I would estab- 
lish a general professorship of the physical sciences, 
to teach our students the glories of Him who sits en- 
throned on the riches of the universe. . . . Here I wish 
to meet an objection that may be brought against us, 
that we wish to teach science superficially. . . . Our 



332 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



students must not necessarily go through Lagrange 
or Laplace's deep reasonings — certain demonstrations 
must be taken as the common property of the world. 
. . . One science must give and take from another, just 
as Paley did not find it necessary to take the knife of 
the anatomist. . . . You are enabled to take for granted, - 
by the testimony of the whole astronomical world, the 
three different demonstrations regarding the plane- 
tary system, which Laplace himself discovered by his 
own lab(5urs. . . . Let us not dread the imputation of 
superficiality — that we do not make our students dip 
into all the demonstrations of the physical sciences. 
. . . We do not need to go forth upon their domain in 
quest of the profound or elaborate. . . . We shall have 
enough of this within our own borders. . , . After we 
have received all that we want at their hands, we 
shall call for the severest draughts on the attention of 
our scholars, if we but adequately expound the dis- 
tinction between final and efficient causes, or the im- 
portant distinction — not till recently sufficiently ad- 
verted to — ^between the laws of matter and the dispo- 
sitions of matter ; and, still more, if we can succeed 
in clearing away from the theistical argument the 
cumbrous metaphysics of a former generation ; and, 
lastly, if we can dispose of such infidel plausibilities 
as have been conjured up by Hume and Laplace — the 
one profound in metaphysics, and the other in astro- 
nomy, yet both of them superficial in theology not- 
withstanding — as if the very labour and time they 
had expended on their own favourite walks had just 




EEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



333 



unfitted them all the more for the patient and pro- 
found treatment of theological questions. . . . The last 
of the prehminary classes I would have to be, a pro- 
fessorship of mental and moral philosophy , but modi- 
fied from the absolute and the general into the rela- 
tive form — that is, the mental and moral sciences 
viewed in their connexion with theology. . . . Thus, in 
the hands of the ethical professor, the laws of nature 
may be extended from the social duties to the duties 
which man owes to his Maker, and so prove — what 
the moral philosophy of our day has signally failed in 
— a schoolmaster for bringing men to Christ. . . . And 
then, as to what Dr Thomas Brown calls the physio- 
logy of the mind, the reduction of the absolute to a 
relative class will not necessarily call for abridgments; 
for, in truth, so manifold are the adaptations between 
the subjective mind and the objective Christianity 
which is addressed to it, that we know not a better 
preparative than the study of the mental processes 
or laws, both for your philosophically appreciating 
the internal evidences of our faith, and for your ex- 
ploring with the eye of a scientific observer the depths 
and the recesses of experimental rehgion. ... As far 
as the rationale of that high and hidden process, 
even our sanctification by faith, can be laid open, let 
all progress be made in it, when it will appear that 
the direct experience of the advanced Christian, whe- 
ther as verified in his own person, or as adverted to 
in Scripture, is in striking coincidence with the dis- 
coveries of those who make the working of the human 



334 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



faculties the object of their reflex contemplation 

Take the case of President Edwards: Liebnitz and 
Hume were perhaps before him in their extended 
survey of the mind, but he would have been better 
suited for a course of relative moral or mental philo- 
sophy. . . . The American divine stands unrivalled, in 
modern times, both for natural and spiritual discern- 
ment. . . . There never was a finer combination of 
great power with great piety. . . . His is by far the 
highest name the New World has to boast of; and 
this prince of theologians may be viewed either as an 
intellectual or a spiritual champion ; and the services 
of laymen may be taken by our Church to act the 
spiritual part of an Edwards. . , . People who have but 
one idea may laugh at this ; but the Free Church, 
taking the services of these, would make it all the 
more necessary that there exist the other class, of the 
spiritually-minded Edwards, in our fully educated stu- 
dents. It is here that worldly churches are apt to go 
astray — their chief concern is to restrain the pruriencies 
of Christianity ; but the right way for a church is to 
encourage both these species of talent. ... A church 
doing otherwise founds on the idea that the rehgious 
tendencies of our nature are exuberant, instead of 
their being a natural barrenness. . . . We, so far from 
being alarmed at the rumour of a stir or revival, are 
glad of it, and ready to hail it as the promise of some 
coming regeneration. ... A church doing otherwise 
runs the risk of being so active in pulling up the 
tares, that it may pull up the wheat along with them. 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



335 



. . . It may shew an unvaried expanse of earthliness. 
. . . Many churchmen look on the labours of laymen 
with jealousy — they view them as empirics, the same 
as the regular Faculty view quacks in medicine. . . . 
The excellence of the ecclesiastical system lies in com- 
bining the use of talent and piety. Look at the pri- 
mitive teachers, how pure and simple and dignified in 
their style of teacliing the gospel ! 

Friday, 3d November 1843. — At an interview 
with Dr Chalmers, he inquired what view we took 
of the Free Church affairs and finances. The reply 
was, that we never had any fear of their success 
— legacies and endowments would follow. Dr 
Chalmers said, ''it was just putting in the screw — 
another wrench,'' It was remarked, that he had 
done right in aU the trouble he had taken, but that 
he should not excite himself, or be over anxious, but 
keep his mind easy. We shall not soon forget the 
humble style with which he said, '' God bless you; it 
is a very good advice — we should not be too careful 
about anything." With what gladness and kindness 
he received the suggestions of his friends, even on those 
matters in which he had laboured so earnestly ! We 
left him, pleased to receive the good wishes and bless- 
ing of such a man. 

Saturday, 4cth November 1843. — In the morning, 
drove out with Mr Matheson* of Achany, M.P., to Dr 
Chalmers's, Churchhill, to breakfast. It is always 
deeply interesting to see him, like the patriarchs of 

Now Sir James Matheson, Bart., of xicliany and the Lewes. 



336 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



old, assembling his family to their morning devotions, 
and then turning, with an unburdened and happy 
mind, to free social converse with his family and 
friends ; it was then that he generally felt most 
disposed for a little jocularity and humour, and was 
wont to tell some amusing anecdotes in his own 
naive and original style. This morning we had 
some conversation on the Free and Established 
Churches; the story of the last few years was re- 
hearsed, and its various views. Some one remarked 
that strong things had been said by the Free Kirk 
folks. Mrs. Chalmers said, in her mild and quiet way, 
"Need you wonder at some bitterness in those who 
have given up their worldly all ?" Before our pleasant 
party broke up — bearing in mind some points on which 
Mr Matheson wished to hear our distinguished host — 
we said — " Now, permit us, Dr Chalmers, to arraign 
you as a criminal at the bar. Your enemies accuse you 
of having said formerly, that church establishments 
were essential for the welfare of a country, and that 
now you would pull them down." Dr Chalmers's 
answer was as we anticipated — that what he had been 
accused of saying against church establishments was 
uttered by him in 1830, when speaking hypotheti- 
cally — that such circumstances might possibly accrue 
as would render church estabhshments such moral 
nuisances as ought to be swept from the face of the 
earth. 

Monday, 13th November 1843. — Heard Dr Chal- 
mers deliver his first lecture in the New Free College, 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



337 



George Street, Edinburgh. He remarked, good- 
humouredly, to his students, that he could not con- 
gratulate them on their fine academic porch — alluding 
to the external portico of the building not yet being 
erected. 

Thursday, lUh March 1844.— Called at Dr Chal- 
mers's, Churchhill, Morningside. Saw the new church, 
erected near the village. Dr Chalmers at this time 
was urging the Rev. Thomas Guthrie to go to America 
for a few months, as one of a deputation from the 
Free Church, but many of Mr Guthrie's friends ad- 
vised him against it on the score of his health. He, 
with his natural love of what is grand and sublime in 
nature, would have liked to have seen the Falls of 
Niagara; and Dr Chalmers said to him, so charac- 
teristic of the man who spoke it, and of him to 
whom it was spoken, Only think, Mr Guthrie, what 
a multitude of images you would get ! " 

Monday, 18th March 1844. — Dr Chalmers's stu- 
dents breakfasted together, in honour of his birth- 
day. Received a kind letter from Dr Chalmers this 
morning, on the death of a daughter. It is written 
in his earnest and pious strain : — 

" MoKNiNGSiDE, Mavcli 17, 1844. 

" My Dear Sir, — What a precious alleviation to 
this family trial must have been that heavenly state 
of mind which I understand was evinced by your 
daughter for some time previous to her departure ! 
May this have a comforting and sanctifying influ- 
ence on yourself and Mrs Anderson, and all your 

Y 



338 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



household; and let us all henceforth be followers of 
them who through faith and patience are now inherit- 
ing the promises ! 

^' My earnest prayer is, that God may shower down 
all spiritual blessings on you and yours. May your 
children rise round you, and call you blessed! May 
you have great cause for thankfulness in the present 
Christianity of those who are near and dear to you ! 
May one and all of your domestic circle be en- 
riched by the grace and saving knowledge of the 
gospel — so that, when you come to die, and rise again, 
you may all be found side by side at the right hand 
of the everlasting throne. — I am, my dear sir, yours 
very truly, Thomas Chalmers." 

Wednesday, \st May 1844. — The first number of 
the North British Review published, edited by Dr 
Welsh. We had talked to him fifteen years pre- 
viously of establishing such a review, and enlisting 
as contributors, Hall, Foster, and Chalmers— to be 
conducted on evangeUcal principles. The first article 
is on Cuvier, by Sir David Brewster, and the third 
by Dr Chalmers, on the corn laws, characterised by 
those strong and enlarged views he takes of every 
subject — urging the abolition of those laws. Hugh 
Miller, a man well qualified to pronounce an opin- 
ion, remarked of these articles, that "the science 
does not fall beneath the high level of Sir David 
Brewster, and the political economy is worthy of 
Chalmers." 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHAOIERS. 



339 



Sabbath, 2d June 1844. — Afternoon, at St An- 
drew's Free Church, George Street, Edinburgh, Dr 
Chalmers preached on opening this new and beautiful 
church for the congregation of his esteemed friend, 
the Rev. John Bruce. His text was from Luke, 8th 
chapter, 18th verse — Take heed, therefore, how ye 
hear." This discourse Dr Chalmers also delivered in 
the following year, at the opening of the new Free 
Church of St John's, Glasgow, where his successor, 
Dr Thomas Brown, was minister. 

Friday, 14:th June 1844. — In the evening, at the 
Free College, George Street, Edinburgh, heard Dr 
Chalmers deliver a lecture on providing schools and 
churches for the poor. He said, though the subject 
had engrossed much of his attention for nearly thirty 
years, to make the matter as plain as possible to his 
audience, he would begin at its very alphabet. He 
then shewed the principles in human nature by which 
the local and territorial plan is powerful for the moral 
and rehgious education and instruction of the people 
in a way that no general system is or can be. He 
said — My plan is to take four hundred families in a 
locality — to have that locahty divided into twenty 
parts, and these visited regularly by agents. I don't 
want to commit you to become the future session of 
the church that may afterwards be built in the dis- 
trict, but I want your help and your usefulness in 
visiting one and all of those families assigned to you. 
. . . The great object is to begin immediately, without 
the cumbrous expedient of a committee, with its for- 



340 



REMmiSCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



mal meetings, and its tabling of motions ; indeed, the 
only effect of such a committee that I have seen, is to 
give a good measure the honour of a decent funeral — 
the convener at the head, and the rest of the members 
pall-bearers. . . . Some people may recoil from this 
work, as if it involved a prodigious amount of labour ; 
but it is distance that magnifies its difficulties. . . , 
When you look it fairly in the face, you will find it 
quite practicable." — He then proceeded to give the 
first intimation of his West Port or home mission 
scheme. " In such a scheme you will find a happi- 
ness and a comfort such as you never had before in 
your random and undirected efi'orts of Christian bene- 
volence. . . . Here is your given field, here is your 
home walk; and you will feel that every effort you 
make here will add to the stock of your influence with 
the people for their good. . . . Utopianism ! some saj^ 
Who are the Utopians? — they who, having had ex- 
perience on all sides, can tell of human nature — both 
the evil and the good — all the world over ? or they 
who descant upon the difference between the urban 
and the rural population, and who, like the children 
of olden poesy, imagine that the men who are brought 
up in the smoke of factories, and amid the ringing din 
of our mills, are coarse and rude as the work in which 
they are occupied — forgetting that this is just as 
much a work of the imagination as if they were in 
some pastoral vale, nursed in the lap of beauty, to 
look for the honest patriots and the gentle streams of 
Arcadia!" 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



341 



Friday, 21st June 1844. — This evening heard Dr 
Chalmers dehver a second lecture on the best means 
of conveying the gospel to the whole population, by 
providing territorial schools and churches for the 
poor. Such was the power he exercised over the 
minds of his audience on this occasion, that he alter- 
nately drew tears and smiles from them. 

Friday, 28th June 1844. — Attended Dr Chalmers, 
by invitation, at his College class-room, George Street, 
Edinburgh, to hear him further state his views on the 
practicabiHty of providing churches and schools for 
the working classes and general population of Edin- 
burgh. He addressed a large audience, consisting of 
Free Church clergymen and others, for nearly two 
hours. He was very animated. 

Monday, 1st July 1844.— Dr Chalmers now set 
actively about his West Port or home mission scheme. 
He was delighted when assistance was tendered to 
him ; received the following note from him : — 

" MoRNiNGSiDE, Julp 1, 1844 (Monday). 

"My Dear Sir, — I want much to see you on the 
subject of our proposed investigation. Could you 
breakfast with me to-morrow (Tuesday) ? 

" I feel most grateful for your accession to our 
agency.— I ever am, my dear sir, yours most truly, 

Thomas Chalmers." 

Tuesday, 2d Jidy 1844. — Breakfasted with Dr 
Chalmers at his house, Churchhill, Morningside — his 
son-in-law, Mr M'Kenzie, Mrs Hanna, and Thomas, 



342 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



his grandson, there. After his family prayers we 
had some interesting conyersation on the proposed 
West Port aggression, or friendly invasion, as it was 
sometimes called. In the course of the discussion 
regarding it, Dr Chalmers remarked in his homely 
way, that he thought " the local system was as plain 
as parritch." 

Thursday^ 4:th July 1844.— Breakfasted with Dr 
Chalmers, Churchhill, Morningside — Mr Ewan, the 
proposed missionary for the West Port, there. After 
much interesting conversation, we proceeded to make 
the first invasion of the West Port, not as a hostile 
army, but a friendly corps to protect its best interests. 
We visited the old Portsburgh Hall, at the West 
Port, where Dr Chalmers proposed that he and the 
agents should hold meetings every Saturday evening. 
We then called on a decent, plain old woman, Mrs 
Hughes, Killiebrae, West Port, with whom Dr Chal- 
mers shook hands, and entered into a kindly conver- 
sation. He then called at Mrs M'Arthur's, St Cuth- 
bert's Close, and several others, from all of whom he 
received a most cordial reception. Looked at a place 
for a church and school. Dr Chalmers was much 
pleased with thus breaking ground. 

Friday, 5th July 1844. — Heard Dr Chalmers, at 
the New College, George Street, Edinburgh, deliver 
another of his lectures on the right means for the 
moral and religious elevation of the lower classes. 
He adverted to the importance of separating the 
duties of the Christian teacher and the mere almoner, 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



343 



and then went into the details of his plan for visiting 
the West Port. He said — If the Christian agency 
of which I speak were fairly wrought, in the course 
of a few years the destitute and degraded districts of 
our city would present a very different appearance, 
and at the sound of the Sabbath-bell every house 
would pour forth its worshippers — and what a delight- 
ful spectacle would that be !" 

Saturday, 6th July 1844. — Visited ten families in 
the West Port, and got quite a pleasant reception 
from all of them. We left with each family a copy 
of the following printed paper, drawn up by Dr 
Chalmers for the purpose : — 

" West Port Scheme. 

The person who hands in this slip of paper wants to 
explain by it the purpose of his future calls on this 
family, and on a few of their next-door neigh- 
bours. 

" His main reason, and what he chiefly seeks after, 
is the good of their never-dying souls. He deeply 
feels the obligation which lies upon those who have 
been most favoured by the hght and opportunities of 
the gospel to do all that in them lies, that these pre- 
cious blessings may be extended to the less fortunate 
and less favoured of their brethren. It is his clear 
and strong conviction that the various classes of 
people in this city — ^the rich and the poor — the edu- 
cated and the uneducated — they who live at ease, and 
they who live in the midst of difficulties, or on the 



344 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 

earnings of hard and honest labour — have hitherto 
kept at far too great a distance from each other, and 
that there ought to be a vast deal more of intercourse 
and of mutual kindness betwixt them. It is on this 
account that he wants to become the acquaintance, 
and, if they will allow him, to be a frequent visiter of 
the households in that httle district, on which he 
means to bestow such attentions and such services as 
he is able to afford ; and should there be any opening 
to real usefulness in the midst of them, so that he 
may be the instrument of good, and more especially 
of moral and spiritual good, to any of the inmates, he 
will bless God and rejoice. 

" What he and those who go along with him in this 
undertaking are most intent upon, is the sound, and 
thorough, and withal Christian education of your 
families. This, of all other objects, is that which their 
hearts are most. set upon. Next to the salvation of 
their own souls, they would like parents to have 
the comfort, the great and unspeakable comfort, of 
thriving, and well brought up, and well-conditioned 
children; and so convinced are they of the vast im- 
portance that you should be regularly served with 
good lessons on the Sabbath, and they, your sons 
and daughters, should be regularly served with good 
daily lessons through the week, that they have re- 
solved to keep by this neighbourhood, and never to 
let go their hold of it, till they see a church raised in 
the midst of it for the special behoof of its families, — 
and schools, where a right and requisite learning is to 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



345 



be had for the whole, if they choose it, of the yonng 
and rising generation. 

We are aware that some of you are already 
served both with Sabbath and week-day instructions. 
We have no wish to intrude on these, or to offer them 
any disturbance. We do not want to draw such away, 
either from the ministers who declare to them the 
words of eternal life, or from the teachers who supply 
them with a sound and good scholarship. Our main 
object is the Christian and educational good, not of 
those who do not require the accommodation that we 
offer, but of the general population, and, we should 
say, of the working classes at large, in this part of 
Edinburgh. Our object is in no shape an exclusive 
or a sectarian one. But we have great confidence in 
the power of Christian truth when brought closely and 
effectually home to the consciences of men ; and our 
main design is therewith to elevate the moral, and the 
intellectual, and, above all, the spiritual, condition of 
the very humblest in the scale of society. In the 
prosecution of this work, we confidently look for en- 
couragement and good-will even from those in this 
locality who do not stand in need of any services at 
our hand, yet who, for the sake of their own neigh- 
bourhood and their own neighbours, will bid us God- 
speed, nay, perhaps will help us forward on this 
errand of charity. We shall therefore cherish the 
hope of co-operation and aid from the residenters of 
this place in the walk on which we now enter — an aid 
the nature and design of which we shall afterwards 



346 



EEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



have occasion to explain to them. Meanwhile, it is 
our prayer that God may shower down His grace on 
your households and families. May He prosper the 
ministrations of the gospel to your eternal well-being ! 
May the promises of the life that now is, as well as 
of the life that is to come, be abundantly realised up- 
on you ! ' The Lord bless you and keep you : the 
Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be graci- 
ous unto you : the Lord lift his countenance upon you, 
and give you peace.'" 

Sabbath, 7th July 1844. — ^Visited three of the 
West Port families, to ascertain if they were attend- 
ing church. At one of the houses, the mother, a 
matronly, decent woman, had two sons, respectable 
lads, who cannot go to church together, because they 
have only one coat between them, and when the one 
wears it, the other has to stay at home. 

Friday, 19th July 1844. — Heard Dr Chalmers, at 
the New College, George Street, Edinburgh, deliver 
his fourth lecture, to shew that the territorial system, 
faithfully wrought out, is the best means for elevating 
the mass of our city population from the moral de- 
gradation in which they are sunk. This lecture was 
attended by a great body of clergymen and laymen 
of all evangelical denominations. 

Wednesday, 31st July 1844. — Dr Chalmers pre- 
sided at a meeting of the Edinburgh City Mission. 
He shewed the wide field for missionary effort among 
the masses of our city population. This useful insti- 
tution has many features in common with the exccl- 



I 



RE^IINISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



347 



lent plan which Dr Chalmers has been propounding 
for the rehgious improvement of the neglected city 
districts of Edinburgh. 

Saturday, 3d August 1844. — In the evening, met 
Dr Chalmers and the other West Port visiters in the 
old court-house of Portsbiirgh. Each reported the 
reception he had met with in the friendly mission to 
the West Port famihes, and gave his suggestions, Dr 
Chalmers said he had been harping on this string for 
between twenty and thirty years, and now for the 
first time he had got a fair trial of the i^lan. Here 
all felt that they were sitting as the best servants of 
the State, engaged in a work that could not fail to 
advance the moral and religious wehare of the people. 

During this month the health of Dr Chalmers was 
not good, and he went to pay some visits in Fife, to 
the Heriots of Ramornie, and other friends, and re- 
cruited considerably. 

Saturday, Slst August 1844. — He received a re- 
quisition from Glasgow, signed by about five hundred 
ministers and office-bearers of the Free Church, urging 
him to deliver a public address on the financial arrange- 
ments of the Free Church. 

Wednesday, 4:th September 1844. — He rephed to 
this requisition : — It grieves me to inform you that 
the state of my health has laid me aside from public 
business. My doctors will not even aUow me to attend 
the Committee in Edinburgh, and, a fortiori, I must 
decline the application which has come to me from 
your city. Indeed, I have no choice — I am physi- 



348 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



cally incapable of the exertion. I exceedingly regret 
that I should have to lay a negative on an apphcation 
so numerously and so respectably signed, and when 
in many of the names I recognise the most valued 
friends of other days." 

Saturday, 28th September 1844. — At the evening 
meeting of the West Port visiters, when progress was 
reported. It was agreed to rent and fit up an old 
tannery as a temporary school-house. There were 
two letters from Dr Chalmers, regretting his absence, 
on account of the state of his health, but expressing 
his hope and expectation of being able to attend the 
following week. 

Saturday, 5th October 1844. — At West Port meet- 
ing in the evening— Dr Chalmers in the chair. After 
the committee business, he gave out the 85th Psalm, 
and read the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, which, he 
remarked, is perhaps the most impressive passage of 
Scripture in either the Old or New Testament. He 
announced a West Port subscription of £200, from 
a gentleman who strictly concealed his name. He said 
this had put him in good spirits, getting such a 
haul." Such is the Christian benevolence of his cha- 
racter, that he enjoyed an occurrence like this infi- 
nitely more than he would have done any addition to 
his own private fortune. 

Tuesday, 5th November 1844. — Dr Chalmers de- 
livered his introductory lecture for the session at the 
Free College, George Street. In his own emphatic 
language, he stated — " We have to demonstrate a 



REMmSCEXCES OF DR CHAOIERS. 



349 



breach between heaven and earth, which nothing can 
heal but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." He re- 
marked-^Man is a ruin — but it may be with some 
beauteous fragments. 

Wednesday, 6th November 1844. — Dr Chalmers 
delivered an address in the school-room at the West 
Port. The audience was numerous, and all seemed 
pleased Avith his plans for the amelioration of the dis- 
trict, which he brought forward in a manner calcu- 
lated to win their affection. 

Tuesday, 19th November 1844. — Breakfasted with 
Dr Chalmers. We had been requested to invite his 
attendance, and to participate in the business, at a 
pubhc meeting for erecting baths to the working 
classes, at which the Duke of Buccleuch was to pre- 
side ; but he prudently, on account of the indifferent 
state of his health, dechned. 

Wednesday, 20th November 1844. — Dr Chalmers 
attended the pubhc funeral of his excellent and inti- 
mate friend, Dr Abercrombie, well known as a Chris- 
tian author, and eminent physician. He was a man 
with whom he consulted much on philanthropic and 
religious subjects. 

Saturday, 23d November 1844. — A new number 
of the North British Eevieiv appeared. The leading 
article is by Dr Chalmers, entitled, " The Political 
Economy of the Bible." 

Thursday, 19th December 1844. — Dr Chalmers 
delivered a second address in the evenino; to the 
West Port folks, in the tannery school-room. There 



350 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



were about six hundred present, chiefly inhabitants of 
the district. 

Sabbath, 22dDecemberl%4c4:, — Dr Chalmers opened 
the West Port school-house for public worship, and 
delivered an appropriate discourse on Proverbs,. 29th 
chapter, 1st verse — " He that, being often reproved, 
hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and 
that without remedv." In this discourse were dis- 
played all his wonted ardour and zeal, and his audi- 
ence mainly consisted of the people of the West Port. 
It is to be hoped much good will be done both here 
and elsewhere, by such an example of Dr Chalmers's 
labours; for this scheme may be called a model 
mission. 

Wednesday, 25th December 1844. — Breakfasted 
with Dr Chalmers. There were a party of twelve at 
table. He remarked — " You see they are all West 
Porters."" He enjoyed thus meeting those connected 
with the West Port scheme. 

Wednesday, 1st January 1845. — A soiree given 
to the West Port folks, as a means of rational amuse- 
ment, and to cherish a taste for harmless recreations. 
They seemed all to enjoy it. It is proposed by Dr 
Chalmers and his coadjutors to estabhsh a West Port 
library, a reading-room, a place for their getting 
ready-made coffee, and a savings' bank ; and to dis- 
seminate religious tracts in the district. 

Sabbath, 2d February 1845. — Afternoon at West 
Port school. Weavers' Close. Dr Chalmers preached 
his discourse from Isaiah, 27th chapter, 4th and 5th 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



351 



verses — Fury is not in me." It was in the old 
homely tannery at the West Port. 

Wednesday f 5th February 1845. — Breakfasted with 
Dr Chalmers at Churchhill, Morningside — M. Malan 
from Geneva there. In his prayer, he remarked, 
that God is no longer an object of terror, but is now 
an object of trust." 

Saturday, Sth February 1845. — At West Port 
meeting in the evening — Dr Chalmers there. TVe 
had some pleasing conversation, and devotional exer- 
cises. His prayer was beautiful. It is proposed alter- 
nately on the Saturdays to discuss the subjects of the 
schools — the visitation of famihes — the savings' banlvs 
— and the church attendance. 

Saturday, 29th March 1845. — Attended West Port 
weekly meetino- — Dr Chalmers in the chair. Mr 
Tasker has been eno-ao-ed to act as minister and mis- 
sionary, on a salary of £100. He had refused to go 
to Dunblane, and some other places of better emolu- 
ment. Dr Chalmers was much pleased at obtaining 
so efficient and devoted a missionary. 

Saturday, 5th April 1845. — In the forenoon Dr 
Chalmers held a prayer-meeting at his own house, 
Churchhill, with a number of ladies, who act in con- 
nexion with the West Port Local Society, and assist 
him in the management of the schools. In the even- 
ing at West Port meeting, Dr Chalmers presided, 
and introduced Mr Tasker. It was agreed to estabhsh 
immediately a West Port library. 

Sabbath, 6th April 1845.— At West Port Church 



352 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



school-room, or preaching station. Dr Chalmers 
*preached again on Isaiah, 27th chapter, 4th and 5th 
verses, and introduced the Rev. William Tasker as 
minister of the district. He was in high health and 
spirits on this occasion. 

Wednesday, 30th April 1845. — At the funeral of 
Dr David Welsh— about five hundred present. As is 
the custom in Scotland, Dr Chalmers offered up a 
prayer in one of the rooms. He was deeply im- 
pressive. 

Saturday, 3d May 1845. — At West Port meeting 
— Dr Chalmers in the chair. He says he thinks of 
giving up all meetings but these West Port ones, he 
enjoys them so much — no disputations or divisions. 

Friday, 9th May 1845. —Dr Chalmers dehvered 
at the West Port a two hours' address on the savings' 
bank of the district. 

Wednesday, 28th May 1845. — At the Free Church 
Assembly, Canonmills, in the evening, Dr Chalmers 
introduced M. Monod and Dr Merle D'Aubigne, author 
of the History of the Reformation. These strangers 
each addressed the meeting, and it was a very inter- 
esting scene ; about four thousand present. Dr Chal- 
mers said — I cannot but regard the appearance of such 
men among us as providential. If ever there was a 
time when the friends of a scriptural faith and a free 
gospel should draw closer together, surely it is now, 
when, on the one hand, the civil offers to strip ecclesi- 
astical power of its rightful privileges, and when, on the 
other, the corrupt superstition of former days is raising 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DE 



its head again, and threatens to resume its ancient 
lordship over tlie consciences of men. In the war oi 
opinions now pending, we behold the conflict of vari- 
ous elements ; and among these elements the Free 
Church of Scotland has a certain and a very peculiar 
position, having Erastianism to contend with on the 
one hand, and Popery on the other — uphfting a 
testimony against both, protesting against both as 
equally deadly errors, because calculated to place in 
equal jeopardy our Christian liberties. I say, there- 
fore, it is possible that, for the mamten?aice of our 
religious hberties, we may again be called on for the 
same sacrifices and for the same struo'gles on behalf 

CO 

of the principles we espouse — for the same heartfelt 
devotion to a noble cause — for the same lofty and 
intrepid daring on the side of Christian patriotism — 
which was first brought forth in Germany, under the 
championsliip of one whom I need not na.me, because 
throughout the centuries which have passed since he 
was upon the earth, he has been known and revered 
all over Christendom as the hero of the Reformation. 
1 delight to think, it makes me feel as if I were now 
at the most interesting moment of mv existence, when 
I can point to one of those strangers, whom it has 
fallen to me to bring before this great Assembly, so 
universally known, at least through the upper and 
middle classes of British societv, as the historian of 
that Reformation. There is nothino; which I more 
desiderate — there is nothing in connexion with this 
subject which my heart is more set on — than that the 



354 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



book of D'Aubigne, to which I have referred, should 
fio longer be confined to the upper and middle classes 
of society, but that this precious record of the highest 
deeds of moral chivalry shall be carried down amongst 
our countrymen at large, to impregnate with its spirit 
the great bulk and body of our common people, that 
an access shall be found for it at every cottage door, 
till its telling sentences shall have become as familiar 
as household words to our Scottish peasantry. 

Thursday, 5th June 1845. — At meeting of Com- 
mittee at West Port, to fix a site for the church and 
school : the valuation of the proposed site is £375. It 
seems well adapted for the purpose. 

Sabbath, 3d August 1845. — In the afternoon, on 
our way to the West Port school and church, met Mr 
Hugh Miller, the eminent geologist, one of the most 
original-minded men of the present day. On informing 
him of Dr Chalmers being to preach at the West Port, 
he gladly accompanied us. The text and context was. 
Judges, 3d chapter, 20th verse ; and Isaiah, 27th chap- 
ter, 4th and 5th verses. 

The scene on this occasion was admirably de- 
scribed, a few days after, by Mr Miller, in one of 
those graphic sketches in which he is eminently felici- 
tous. We are sure our readers will be gratified to 
have it laid before them. It was entitled, The West 
Port Mission.'' 

On our way to church last Sunday, we were met 
by a friend, and brought in an opposite direction, to 
hear sermon in the loft of a deserted tannery in the 



RBMINISCEXCES OF DR CHAL^IERS. 



355 



West Port. We quitted the main street bj a low 
damp passage, from which we emerged into an ob- 
scure back court, with a tall dingy house and a dead 
stone- wall on the one side, and the deserted tannery 
on the other. ' Our homely-looking church is in ra- 
ther a disreputable neighbourhood/ said my friend; 'we 
have set us down right in the middle of the enemy's 
camp : ' the ground story of that tall house so directly 
fronting it was the scene of the terrible West Port 
murders. On entering the loft by a creaking chinky 
door, we found it filled from end to end by a some- 
what motley congregation ; there was a considerable 
sprinkling of well-dressed people, who had evidently 
come from other parts of the city ; but by much the 
greater portion of the assemblage were drawn, it was 
equally palpable, from the immediate neighbourhood. 
There were a good many of the people in their work- 
ing-day clothes, and a good many more whose ability 
in decking themselyes out for the occasion fell, it was 
all too evident, far short of their wills ; — there was a 
considerable number, too, of young people in what we 
have always deemed the affecting attire of poverty 
when not yet quite crushed in spirit, and struggling, 
amid the rising waters, to hold up its head. Over 
the faded week-day frock of many a little girl, some 
minute piece of new dress, — a few handbreadths of 
shawl fresh from the shop, or a bit of bright ribbon, 
had been carefully arranged ; and clear shining faces, 
and hair nicely di-essed, testified that at least pains 
had not been spared by the poor mother or aunt to 



356 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



come up to the cherished Sabbath-day idea, at least 
as nearly as circumstances permitted. The week-dav 
clothes, with, if we can so speak, their Sabbath-day 
lacing, were further interesting, as indicating a class 
who, if they had not been hearing sermon in the 
tannery loft, would, in all probability, have been 
hearing it nowhere. It marked out the portion of 
the congregation which had been furnished by the 
surrounding locality on the excavation principle of 
Dy Chalmers. 

ISTever was there a church of homelier aspect than 
that furnished by this deserted tannery loft. It was 
low-roofed and roughly floored ; and the unplastered 
walls were perforated by irregularly-paned windows, 
like those of a wright's workshop. The only pews in 
the place were rude forms, laid down, row beyond row, 
on the same level; and the pulpit was a mere deal 
desk. It would have defied even John Bunyan, had 
John been, what he assuredly was not, a Puseyite, to 
have made an allegory out of the materialisms of the 
place. He would have found, however, what he 
would have deemed a vastly better thing than any 
mere stone-and-lime parable, however ingenious— a 
preached gospel. The preacher was a silvery-haired 
venerable man, far advanced in life, — within some 
four or five years, mayhap, of the term so long ago 
fixed by the Psalmist as summing up the abridged 
period of human existence; but age, instead of im- 
pairing his energies, had merely served to concentrate 
them with deepest earnestness on the neariiig interests 



REMIXISCEXCE3 OF DR CHALMERS. 



357 



of eternity. He proclaimed, with a power and energy 
that riveted the attention of all present, — the poor of 
the locahtv at least not less than the visiters di^awn 
from a distance, — that God had no pleasure in the 
death of sinners; that it was His good pleasure, on 
the contrary, that they should turn and hve ; and that, 
to accomphsh this great purpose of mercy, He had 
sent His Son to die for them. The rude tannery loft 
was, we found, a true church after all, — a place in 
which the poor had the gospel preached to them. We 
saw, too, — for its dress, like that of so many of the 
congregation which it sheltered, had impressed upon 
it the stamp of week-day labour,— that it was some- 
thing more than a church. There were book-shelves 
rano'ed alono; the wall, bearino' an arrav of somewhat 
tattered books, with a vast number of boys' slates, and 
a few calculating frames. The old tannery loft was 
not only the church, but also the school, of the locality ; 
we were informed, too, that it was occasionally a lec- 
ture-room, and that the preacher had dehvered in it, 
only a few evenings before, a lecture on savings' 
banks. He intimated at the close of the sin^ularlv 
impressive service, that on the following Wednesday 
the school was to be examined ; and invited all to at- 
tend; concluding with an address of such thrilling 
interest, that we could see the whole audience leaning 
forward, as if hanging on his lips. We can but 
meagrely intimate the effect of what he said, — not 
how he said it. There were many very tangible 
points of dissimilarity, he remarked, between the poor 



S58 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



and the rich ; — their houses, their clothes, their modes 
of Uving, — almost all their external circumstances, — 
were altogether unlike. But that there existed no 
such differences between their powers of mind, could 
be demonstrated, he said, were demonstration needed, 
by an examination of this West Port school ; and God 
had willed that there should exist no shade of differ- 
ence in the value of their immortal souls. Weighed 
against each other in the balance of the sanctuary, the 
scales were found to contain the same weight, and to 
rest at the same level. 

We suppose we need scarce add, that the vene- 
rable preacher on this occasion, in the deserted tannery 
loft, was Dr Thomas Chalmers, * the greatest of living 
Scotsmen.' " 

Then follows Mr Miller's equally graphic account of 
the school : — 

Wednesday, 6th August 1845. — We attended the 
examination of the school, and found the tannery loft, 
though by no means a small one, much too small for 
the pupils. The usual attendance averaged between 
two and three hundred. The greater part, only nine 
months before, when the school was first opened, could 
not read ; now they almost all read well, and have 
acquired, besides, some skill in penmanship, and no 
little general knowledge. They seem keenly intelligent, 
as if the peculiar sharpness by which city children 
in the lower ranks are so often not very pleasingly 
distinguished, had been deflected into the educational 
walk ; and we saw them as emulously contesting 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHAXMERS. 



359 



their superiority with each other in some point of in- 
formation, or some acquirement in spelling or gram- 
mar, as they had been wont to prosecute theip street 
quarrels. Some were amazingly energetic, for instance, 
in shewing how much they knew about hght, and the 
eye — how hght came down from the sun in straight 
hnes, which, falling on bodies, were reflected from them 
on the eye, where they formed little pictures ; but 
how, though it was the eye that contained the pictm*es, 
it was the mind that saw them. The educational insti- 
tution of the old tannery loft will, in all probabihty, 
impart a new complexion to the destiny of hundreds. 
We may add, that Dr Chalmers, in this locality, is set- 
ting his whole machinery for reclaiming the masses 
into full operation — church, school, library, yisitmg 
society, and savings' bank. 

Such is a realisation, in small, of the grand lead- 
ing idea of the life of Dr Chalmers for the recovery of 
the lapsed masses of our country. We recognise in 
it perhaps the only available machinery of the Ee- 
former for deahng with one of the peculiar emergencies 
of the time. The lower basements of the social fabric 
are falling into a state of perilous ruin and clisrepair, 
that threatens the safety of the entire edifice. There 
is an eating gangrene in the lower extremities of the 
body politic that is fast crippling it, and even thi^eatens 
ultimately to destroy it. Dr Chalmers's mode of cure 
is to propel a healthy circulation of knowledge — secu- 
lar, moral, and rehgious — through the dying portions, 
and thus again to invigorcite them with life ; that so 



360 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



what has become an unsightly incumbrance, fit only to 
be dragged idly behind, may be converted into a hmb, 
vigorous enough to sustain and bear on. 

" Dr Chalmers has two objects in view — to educate 
both for time and eternity ; at the one it is impossible 
to aim too high ; and by aiming at it, the other and 
lower object is brought full within range. With Dr 
Chalmers, non-intrusion was but a part of his great 
scheme for recovering the lapsed people. The Veto 
Act and the two hundred Extension churches went 
together as parts of a whole. The increase of the 
churches involved a corresponding increase of religious 
ministration ; while the enactment of the act was ex- 
pressly intended to secure their efficiency. But while 
we must continue to wonder at the portentous infatu- 
ation of the policy that could have stripped him of his 
machinery for working out a scheme so nobly conser- 
vative, can we admire less the indomitable vigour that^ 
after the labours of a Hfetime had been swept away, 
can begin the work anew, as unbroken by disap- 
pointment now as it had been undeterred by difficulty 
before!" 

Sabbath, 7th September 1845. — Dr Chalmers deli- 
vered a sermon at the West Port. In his anxiety to 
improve this district, he, once every three months, 
preaches at the old tannery here a sermon suited to 
the character and wants of the homely groups who 
assemble to hsten : 

' Can earth afford 
Such genuine state, pre-eminence so free^ 



REJIISriSCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



361 



As, "when array'd in Christ's authority, 
He from the pulpit lifts his a-wfiil hand : 
Conjures, implores, and labours all he can 
For re-subjecting to Divine command 
The stubborn spiiit of rebellious man ? " * 

Sabbath, 2d Xove7nber 184:5. — Dr Chalmers preach- 
ed at the West Port, from Mark, 1st chapter, 15th 
verse — And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the king- 
dom of God is at hand : repent ye, and believe the 
gospel." He said — When a man repents of an action, 
he is sorry for having^ done it. To use a Scottish 
word, he rues having done it. The man of dissipa- 
tion, when he awakes m the morning with languor and 
Ms worn-out faculties, repents his conduct of the last 
night. To repent is to regret. Judas's repentance, 
when he found life insupportable owing to what he had 
done, was not repentance unto salvation. Except ye 
repent, said our Saviour, I tell you, ye shall all like- 
wise perish — there are two vrords used in the original. 
Sorrow may give unutterable anguish to the pains 
and the prospects of a deathbed. I would appeal to 
the sorrow of a drunkard in his intervals from intoxi- 
cation. At such a time a preacher could touch his feel- 
ings, and he would think of his neglected children — 
but that sorrow is not repentance. It is not enough to 
be sorry for sin — you must turn from it. It is not 
feeling, but fruit that is requh^ed. 

Saturday, 15th November 1845. — Breakfasted with 
Dr Chalmers at his house, Churchliill, Morningside. 
His family prayers are always simple and striking. 

^ Wordsworth. 



362 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



He used the following expressions — " May we have 
the will to do the will of God. When in doubt or 
difficulty about the path of duty, may we hear, as it 
were, a voice behind, saying, This is the way'' 

Dr Chalmers had as a visiter this morning Mr 
Troilus Smith, from Denmark, who is commissioned 
to inquire into the state of church matters in this 
country, and report to the Danish Government. The 
presence of the Dane led Dr Chalmers to mention that 
a Danish professor came to this country some years 
ago to inquire about the Danish antiquities in Scot- 
land. " He came," said Dr Chalmers, " to me at 
Burntisland ; and I had no patience with the conduct 
of the professors at St Andrews when I found they 
had dined and feasted him every day, and not shewn 
him the Danish antiquities in the neighbourhood — 
they did not even take him to the East Neuk of Fife, 
where there is a curious cave, in which Constantino, a 
Scottish king, took refuge after a battle, and was mur- 
dered. A farmer there pulled down part of a Danish 
erection for the sake of the stones, but a later farmer 
preserved it ; and I called to thank him in the name 
of all the lovers of antiquities for his care of it." This 
anecdote is beautifully characteristic of Dr Chalmers, 
who, possessed of a mind that was deeply impressed 
with the supreme importance of reUgious matters, was 
still alive to everything that was curious or interest- 
ing in art, literature, or science. 

The same morning also, with the Dane on one side 
of him at breakfast, he was apologising for not helping 



REMmSCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



363 



his guests to any of the viands ; he remarked, in a 
happy and humorous style — When you have your 
friends with you, I think it enough to put doTrn the 
proyisions on the table. Xo one should need to be in- 
yited to eat, but feel quite at home. I know no greater 
plague than a yelping landlady, always insisting on 
you eating more, and telhng you all the while that you 
have eaten nothing. I have seen me over-eat, just to 
be rid of her annoyances. Miss Augusta Mackenzie," 
said he, tells a very good story of a lady, who, to 
escape this botheration, took the provisions whenever 
the landlady offered them, and stowed them away, first 
in one fold of the table-cloth, and then in another, 
pihng it up ; and at last, when her kind hostess assured 
her that she had taken nothing, could stand it no 
longer, but unfolded the linen, and displayed her store 
of eatables, thus proving, by ocular demonstration, that 
she really had taken a great deal, and done something 
for the hospitahty of the house.'' 

At West Port meeting in the evening — Dr Chalmers 
in the chair. He gave a prayer, and read the 55th 
chapter of Isaiah. We had some interesting conversa- 
tion about the district. Lady Effingham has taken up 
another locality, near the West Port, on Dr Chalmers's 
plan, and gives £500 towards it. It was proposed to 
colour a map of Edinburgh, divided into districts, like 
the West Port; a home-mission map, with working 
districts, ijvojected lines, &c., thus applying the rail- 
way nomenclature of the day to a very different 
object. 



364 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMEES. 



Monday, 1st December 1845. — Had a walk with Dr 
Chalmers. He was talking of the public meeting of 
the inhabitants of Edinburgh, to be held next day, 
about opening the British ports for free trade in corn. 
Dr Chalmers is decidedly in favour of Free Trade, 
though he thinks each party is too strong in its views 
of the benefits and evils to result from this measure. 

Monday, 29th December 1845. — He delivered an 
address this evening at the Royal Hotel, Edinburgh, 
to a numerous auditory, on the practicability of pro- 
viding churches and schools for the working classes 
and general population of Edinburgh and other large 
cities. His scheme is as applicable to England, Ire- 
land, or Amer ica, as to Edinburgh. He called the 
meeting by circular. 

Wednesday, 31st December 1845.- — At a meeting 
with Dr Chalmers and the West Port agents. After 
consultation, it was resolved immediately to set agoing 
subscriptions, for the purpose of carrying out his 
scheme for the West Port by building a church and 
school, and the other appendages necessary for the 
completion of his Christian and economic plans. 

Saturday, 10th January 1846. — Attended a meet- 
ing with Dr Chalmers and the West Port agents at the 
Free College, George Street. Handsome subscriptions 
were announced. Dr Chalmers was particularly gra- 
tified by Lord Jeffrey subscribing £100, viz. £20 to 
each district taken up. He had been averse to apply 
to the Judges of the Court of Session, but we had assured 
him that Lord Jeffrey would be delighted to aid. In 



PwEMIXISCEXCZS OF DR CHALjIERS. 365 

the eyemnc; at a meeim^ at tlie West Port, where 
Dr Chalmers again attended and presided.- 

Wednesday, 21st January I8-16. — At meeting with 
Dr Chalmers and the Committee, about plans for the 
TTest Port church and schools. Mr Hav. the archi- 
tect. was present, and thinks the buildings may be 
erected for £1500. 

Friday, 23d January 1846. — Walking with Dr 

Chalmers, we met the Pev. John Hunter, one of tlie 

ministers of the Tron Church, Edinburgh, with whom 

he stopped and conyersed, and afterwards remarked, 

that Mr Hunter was always yery kind. This httle 

incident shewed how readily he interchanged all the 

ordinary courtesies of life with those clergymen from 

whom he had entertained opposite yiews on church 

goyernment. AVe had some conyersation on the corn 

laws and the property-tax. He is pleased with the 

approaching abohtion of the former, and he has 

always been in fayour of direct taxation. 
ti 

Wednesday, lltlt February 1846. — Had some con- 
yersation with Dr Chalmers on the fourth yolume of 
D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation, which has 
just appecired, with which he is much interested, and 
on Christian union amon^ the yarious sects who ao;ree 
on the fundamental points of Christianity. He made 
some impressiye remarks on the importance of act- 
ing, instead of merely theorising on' this subject. 

Wednesday, 18th February 1846. — At a meeting 
of the TTest Port architectural committee. The esti- 
mates for the schools and church were opened. 



366 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



Dr Chalmers was disappointed to find that they 
amounted to nearly £2000 ; but he remarked, with 
his usual force of character, that he would not give 
up his West Port plans for the world — that if he did 
not succeed there, he would almost despair of any 
plan for the moral regeneration of the people ; but 
he had no fear — 

^' When energising objects men pursue, 
Wliat are tlie wonders which they cannot do 1" 

Wednesday, 11th March 1846. — With Dr Chalmers 
at the Free College, George Street. He said that his 
mind is more impressed than ever with the importance 
of Governments supporting the Church in a right way. 

Saturday, 21st March 1846. — At West Port meet- 
ing to-night — Dr Chalmers in the chair. We dis- 
cussed the subject of non-paying scholars— he is clear 
for them all paying something. What is obtained 
free is not valued. 

Saturday, 4cth April 1846. — At West Port meeting 
— ^Dr Chalmers in the chair. He says he is to retire 
from lecturing, and from public life, the end of next 
session. 

He is to preach at the New Free Church at Hen- 
derland, in Peebles-shire, on Sabbath se'ennight. In- 
quired, if we went to hear him, if it would be cauld 
kail het again" — a Scottish phrase often used by 
him, applied to a sermon repeatedly delivered. He 
smiled, and said, he believed so — that it would be his 
sermon from the text — Fury is not in me." 



REMmSCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



367 



Sabbath, 12th Ajwil 184^0. — Having left Edinburgh 
the previous day, vre started from Ehbank at half-past 
eight A.M., to hear Dr Chalmers preach at Hender- 
land, in the parish of Meggat. On reaching the 
bush aboon Traquair/' met with a primitive Peebles- 
shu^e farmer on horseback, with his dauoiiter behind 
him — accordino^ to the old Scottish fashion — wending 
their Tvav to hear the prince of Scottish preachers 
hold forth to the plaided shepherds of the south of 
Scotland. He said he had not heard Dr Chalmers 
for forty years, at which time he resided near Cavers, 
when Dr Chalmers was assistant there. 

The road to Henderland leads up by Yarrow's 
classic braes, and then goes alongside ** lone St Mary's 
silver lake,'* where — 

^' Nor fen nor sedge 
Pollute tlie pure lake's crystal edge ; 
Abmpt and skeer tlie mountains sink 
At once upon the level biink ; 
And just a trace of silver sand 
Marks wliere tke Avater meets tke land ; 
Far in tlie mirror briglit and blue, 
Each, kill's kuge outline you may view." 

It was noon when we arrived at the tasteful and modest 
Free Church of Henderland, built very near St Mary's 
Loch, celebrated m Sir Walter Scott's verses just 
quoted. Arrays of plaided shepherds from Meggat, 
Ettrick, and Yarrow had arrived, and entered this 
place of worship, and some folks had come from 
Moffat and Edinburgh, anxious to hear Dr Chalmers. 
His text was from Isaiah, 27th chapter, 2d to 5th 
verses ; and often as we had heard him dehver this. 



368 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



one of his most favourite discourses, he imparted to 
it on this occasion all the charm of novelty, by adapt- 
ing it to the rural and pastoral character of his 
hearers. 

His introductory prayer was striking. He said — 
Thy greatness is unsearchable, but we rejoice that 

thou art a kind Father May Thy Spirit perform 

the salutary office of convincing us of sin. . . . Give us 
to knoAV ourselves, as the outcasts of a condemnation 
from which there is no escape but through the Sa- 
viour. . . . May we be so sensible of the worth of the 
Saviour, and of our own worthlessness, as to depend 
not on our own righteousness. . . . May we remember 
we are no longer our own, but that we are bought 
with a price . . . and may we think of the costhness of 
that price . . . and through the sanctified influence of 
Thy Spirit may we be made meet for eternity. . . . 
Though we are weak, may we be like the apostle who, 
though weak, could do all things through Christ 
strengthening liim. . . . Do Thou forgive the sins and 
the shortcomings of the past week, and of this morn- 
ing. . . . Our prayers are before Thee. . . . May the 
Saviour add the incense of His merits to our imper- 
fect supphcations, that they may be answered in 
peace." 

His delivery was very impressive, as in the power- 
ful passage — Are you in a fit state to die in half an 
hour ? . . The dying bed will come — the last look you 
will cast on your acquaintances will come — the throw- 
ing in of the loose earth on the narrow bed will come, 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHAmiERS. 



369 



and the spreading of the green sod over it — all 
will come, on every hying creature who now hears 
me." 

In his concluding prayer, he said—" Grant in be- 
half of these people that they may suffer a word of 
exhortation. . . . Thou art a God not to be mocked. . . . 
We have broken Thy law ; may we not add to this the 
tenfold provocation of a rejected gospel. . . Convince 
them of the free offer of pardon. , . . May they sit with 
the docility of httle children. ... If they depart not 
from all iniquity, convince them that there is a radical 
flaw in their character. . . . Grant that, by a mixture 
of prayer and performance, they may be sanctified.... 
Cause that the friends of evangehcal truth may find 
out each other. . . . We pray that our Saviour's prayer 
may be fulfilled, that we all may be one. . . . May our 
land become Uke a well-watered garden, abounding 
in the fruits of righteousness. . . . Grant that one and 
all of us may so live and die, that we may sit down 
together amid the glories of immortahty." 

After the sermon and prayer, he delivered a short 
address to his pastoral audience. They had as yet 
no stated minister; the minister of Yarrow Free 
Church occasionally officiates here. Dr Chalmers 
told them they should have the luhole services of a 
ivliole man. . . . He said he would like to see Scotland 
covered with schools and churches commensurate to 
the wants of the people. ... He remarked, that he had 
as great value for the pence of the poor as the pounds 
of the rich — the widow was permitted to give her 

2 a 



370 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



two mites, and it drew the splendid testimony of our 
Saviour, that her mite was of greater value. He 
remarked, that none should give who do not give 
cheerfully. . . He said, the great bulk of the wealthy 
classes are against the Free Church . . . the scales are 
yet on their eyes ... I hope they will fall from them, 
and I think there are some symptoms of this.'' 

On leaving this interesting rural church — and the 
locality had peculiarly deep-stirring associations to us 
— ^there came a lurid blast of wind and rain down from 
the adjoining Loch of the Lowes ; and at the side of 
St Mary's Loch, near its lone burying-ground, the 
scene was strikingly picturesque — the shepherds and 
their families taking shelter or hield — as the Scottish 
expression has it — behind a march-dyke.* 

Dr Chalmers and two of his daughters passed the 
previous day at Mr Anderson's, Sundhope, a few 
miles down the Yarrow ; and the readers of his valu- 
able posthumous works will find one of his Sabbath 
readings dated and written there this day. The 
evening of this Sabbath he spent at the farm-house 
of Henderland, and on the morning of — 

Monday, 13th April 1846 — He and his two daugh- 
ters breakfasted with a respectable shepherd — elder of 
the Free Church, John Cowan, at his cottage at Kirk- 
stead, by the side of St Mary's Loch. Dr Chalmers 
much enjoyed his visit to this cottage patriarch. In 
the forenoon, Dr Chalmers lunched at Tibbie Shiells's 
— a picturesque cottage, situated between St Mary's 

* A fence or wall separating two farms or estates. 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



371 



Loch and the Loch of the Lowes ; and then proceeded 
to visit the Grey Mare's Tail, a celebrated cataract 
flowing from dark Loch Skene/' a height of nearly 
three hundred feet, and which — 

White as the snowy charger's tail, 
Drives down the pass of Moffatdale." 

He was much delighted with the wild secluded pas- 
toral scenery, and returned to Henderland, where he 
again spent the night, proceeding back to Edinburgh 
the following day. 

Sabbath, 19th April 1846. — Dr Chalmers preached 
at the West Port, on Matthew, 20th chapter, 1st to 
16th verses. In his concluding prayer he had the 
following striking expression, which comes home to 
the bosom of every human being — *'We pray that 
we may be carried safely through this anxious and 
distressing pilgrimage ;" and We pray for a harmo- 
nised commonwealth — may the rich and the poor 
know each other better, and learn to love each other 
more." 

Wednesday, 3d June 1846. — At breakfast, at the 
Royal Hotel, Edinburgh, on the occasion of laying the 
foundation-stone of the Free College, head of Earthen 
Mound, a very noble site for the building — about three 
hundred present — Dr Chalmers in the chair. He de- 
hvered an address of great eloquence and vigour. Dr 
Candhsh and the Rev. Thomas Guthrie also spoke — 
the latter hitting on the uncommonly happy expres- 
sion of designating Dr Chalmers as "the Moses of our 
Exodus." This day will form an epoch in the history 



372 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



of education in Scotland. At noon all proceeded to 
the site, where Dr Chalmers laid the foundation-stone 
of the New College, when he dehvered a powerful 
speech, in which he touchingly alluded to his feehng 
that his own bodily and mental strength were on the 
wane, and quoted Lord Byron's hues — 

I am not what I have been, 
And my visions flit less palpably before me." 

The whole of the vast assemblage, at the close of Dr 
Chalmers's address, joined in singing the 100th Psalm. 
The heat of the day was overpowering, but the scene 
was picturesque and deeply interesting. 

Wednesday, 10th June 1846. — Sir James Graham 
said, in the course of a debate in the House of Com- 
mons, I can never mention the name of Dr Chalmers 
without expressing the high opinion I entertain of him. 
His familiar friendship I once enjoyed. I venerate 
his character, I admire his talents, and I respect, in 
the highest degree, the single-mindedness that renders 
him pre-eminently remarkable amongst the great men 
of the present day." 

Thursday, 25th June 1846. — At the West Port 
school-house, in the evening, Dr Chalmers addressed 
a meeting of the inhabitants, and they seemed much 
interested. He spoke nearly two hours, and, as usual, 
presented harmonising and utilitarian views. 

Tuesday, 30th June 1846. — At the West Port, in 
the evening, Dr Chalmers delivered an address to the 
people of that locality, in the open air. He then laid 
the foundation-stone of the new church and school. 



REMmSCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



373 



The site was crowded, people even on the house-tops ; 
and it was an interesting scene to see this venerable 
man, whose name and fame are over the world, devot- 
ing himself to the moral and religious improvement of 
this destitute locality. The district is already begin- ^ 
ning to rise into a higher character. 

Saturday^ Ath July 1846. — Breakfasted with Dr 
Chalmers at Churchhill. Dr De Witt, from America, 
and an intelligent native of Bombay, now a preacher 
of the Free Church, and several other foreigners, there. 
We mention this, as shewing what had long been the 
case — that Dr Chalmers now occupied that position in 
society that strangers from all parts of the world 
brought introductions to him, anxious to meet with a 
man of such eminence and fame, and he always ready 
to shew them every kindness and hospitality. On 
one occasion he mentioned to us that he found he 
could not live in Edinburgh, placed as he was, under 
an annual expenditure of £700 or £800. 

In the course of conversation Dr Chalmers pro- 
pounded the question, What the Free Church should 
do if Government offered to endow all sects ? " Among 
those present there was but one feeling on the subject, 
viz., to reject such an offer. The present proposed 
additional endowing of the Roman Catholic College 
at Maynooth led to these discussions. 

Thursday, 9th July 1846. — At an evening party 
at Dr Chalmers's, we spent a very pleasant and happy 
evening — seria mixta cum jocis, Dr Chalmers read 
a chapter from 2d Corinthians, and gave a beautiful 



• 



374 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



short practical extemporary discourse on humility — 
on men having nothing of themselves, and needing the 
Spirit of God to guide them. Our venerable host 
seemed just in his element, uncommonly happy and 
^ cheerful, with his family around him, and a number of 
his West Port aides-de-camp, whom he seemed to look 
on as part of his own family ; and he was quite in a 
humour for any sort of serious or even pleasant and 
jocular conversation — few people have a keener and 
higher perception of the ludicrous than he possesses. 

Saturday, llth July 1846. — Dr Chalmers and two 
of his daughters set off to pay a sort of farewell visit 
to his early Roxburghshire friends. They visited 
Melrose Abbey and Abbotsford, and proceeded to 
Jedburgh, where ho preached on the Sabbath, and 
passed a few days with Mr John Elliot, the grandson 
of the clergyman to whom he was assistant in early 
life at Cavers. 

In the following week he visited Hawick, where he 
delivered a sermon, and called on many of his early 
acquaintances, and took a survey of the little parlour 
he had occupied in that town, with the closet adjoining, 
which then constituted his library. 
' Sabbath, 26th July 1846. — Dr Chalmers preached 

at the West Port, from 2d Corinthians, 5th chapter, 
20th verse. Our readers will find this excellent ser- 
mon in Dr Chalmers's "Posthumous Works.'' ^ The 

* Sermons by the late Thomas Chalmers, D.D., LL.D, illustrative of 
Different Stages in his Ministry— 1798-1847." Sutherland & Knox; 
Edinburgh, 1849. 



re:miniscexces of dr chalmers. 



375 



crowd on the occasion was so great that Dr Cox, of 
New York, had to preach in the open air, outside of 
the tannery, to a large audience, while Dr Chalmers 
officiated in the interior of the buildino\ 

Thursday, 6th August 1846. — At the examination 
of the West Port schools, above two hundi^ed cliildren 
present, Dr Chalmers took an active part in hearing 
the childi^en examined, and testing theh^ accjuirements 
in the various useful branches taught them. 

Sabbath, 9th August 1846. — At Free Chui^ch of 
Ratho and Kirknewton, Dr Chalmers preached for his 
son-in-law, Mr ]\PKenzie, from Isaiah, 27th chapter, 
4th and 5th verses. Dr Chalmers dehvered this 
beautiful and practical discourse in a style more than 
usually colloquial, which added to its interest. 

Sabbath, 13th Sejytember 1846, — In the evening, 
Dr Chalmers preached to the inmates of Gillespie's 
Hospital — a benevolent mstitution, near his own resi- 
dence, where aged men and women are maintamed. 
His text was from 1st Corinthians, 7th chapter, 29th 
verse — '^Time is short." On the Friday preceding 
he had attended the funeral of his first teacher, 
Daniel Ramsay, an inmate of this institution, who 
died there, aged nearly fourscore. 

Wednesday, 30th September 1846. — Met Dr Chal- 
mers at the Free College, George Street, Edinburgh. 
He is looking remarkably well after his autumnal ex- 
cursions. At this meeting of the arcliitectural West 
Port Committee, matters were in coui^se of arrange- 
ment for finishing the new church and schools. 



376 



KEMINISCENCES OF DR CHAL:^IEIIS. 



Monday, 5th October 1846. — Met Dr Chalmers at 
the West Port. He surveyed the progress made in 
the erection of the new church and school-rooms. 
They are far advanced. He then visited the school 
at the old tannery, where he addressed the children 
in his usual kindly and affectionate style. 

Saturday, 10th October 1846. — At the West Port 
Local Society meeting — Dr Chalmers present. On 
walking homeward, he talked of the present state of 
Ireland. He said — " How I feel for Ireland ! they don't 
take a large view of the subject — a whole country 
starving !" He remarked, in his emphatic way, " Oh, 
Sir ! if they would only make me Dictator." 

Thursday, 15th Oc^ofter 1846.~At Dr John Brown's 
United Presbyterian Church, Broughton Place, Edin- 
burgh, in the evening, Dr Chalmers delivered an 
address on the best mode of giving a common and 
religious education to the poor. 

Monday, 19th October 1846. — As a specimen of 
Dr Chalmers's unwearied assiduity and activity in 
following out his West Port scheme as a model dis- 
trict for the ameUoration of the people, and the eleva- 
tion of the lower classes, we give the following note 
from him, dated 

" MoENiNGSiDE, 19th Octobev 1846. 

" My Dear Sir, — It is my earnest request that you 
will attend a meeting of the architectural committee, 
at the West Port, on AVednesday the 21st, at two 
o'clock, when matters of the greatest importance will 
come before us. It is most desirable that the meeting 



EEMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMEHS. 



377 



should be as full as possible. — I am, my dear sir, 
yours truly, Thomas Chalmers/' 

Thursday, 19th JSfovemhei' 1846. — Heard Dr Chal- 
mers deUver a lecture at the Free College, George 
Street, on the supremacy of conscience. He always 
tunes your faculties to the harmonies of the universe, 
and raises you from the little views and subjects with 
which ordinary minds are apt to be engaged. Common 
men beside him dwindle into pigmies. We remember 
of remarking, some fifteen years since, that we thouo-ht 
the four greatest men in Britain were the Duke of 
WelHngton, Dr Chalmers, Sir Walter Scott, and Lord 
Brougham. This is a collocation of names which to 
many may seem strange, the walks and the works of 
these four men were so very different ; but, for origi- 
nal genius and mental power, it will be acknowledged 
that each was supereminent in his own sphere. 

Tuesday, 22d December 1846. — Mr Oastler, from 
Yorkshire, brought a letter of introduction from Dr 
Chalmers, wishing to promote his views. He has 
come to Edinburgh on the invitation of the working- 
classes, to advocate the Factory Bill, and has been a 
coadjutor of Lord Ashley in this benevolent work. 

Sabbath, 27th December 1846. — Forenoon, at 
West Port church, being still the old tannery, Dr Chal- 
mers preached on Zechariah, 7th chapter, 13th verse. 

Monday, loth February 1847. — At West Port 
school in the evening — Dr Chalmers present. It 
was the opening day of the new-built school. The 



378 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



scholars, two hundred in number, were inarched in 
procession from the old school at the tannery to the 
new one in the main street — Dr Chalmers and Lady 
Foulis immediately behind them. On taking pos- 
session of the new building, Dr Chalmers opened the 
proceedings with praise and prayer, and then ad- 
dressed the children. It was a touching and interest- 
ing scene. 

Friday, 19th February 1847. — This was a dehght- 
ful day to Dr Chalmers — the completion and opening 
of the new church at the West Port. The erection 
even of the belfry has been to him interesting. 
Standing with him in the vestry, before the sermon, 
when the bell began to toll in this locality for the first 
time, he was quite pleased, and, looking at the numbers 
collected in the street, he said^ — See now how all 
heads converge towards the bell!" The church was 
crowded. The Duchess of Gordon, and a good many 
strangers, were present. He preached from Luke, 
14th chapter, 17th verse — ^^And the lord said unto 
the servant. Go out into the highways and hedges, 
and compel them to come in, that my house may be 
filled." 

The collection on this occasion was in aid of the 
district, and amounted to £85, 12s. 

fSabbath, 21st February 1847. — Forenoon at West 
Port — the first Sabbath of the new church. Dr Chal- 
mers preached from Isaiah, 53d chapter, 3d verse, 
last clause — " lie was despised, and we esteemed 
him not." 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



379 



We remarked to Dr Chalmers, in the vestry, after 
the sermon, that the scene brought back to our re- 
collection the crowd, thirty-one years ago, when he 
preached before the Lord Commissioner in the High 
Church. He replied, with great emphasis — I can 
assure you. Sir, I value this far more than the other." 
The collection amounted to £54. 

Saturday, 13th March 1847.— At a meeting of the 
West Port architectural committee. Dr Chalmers felt 
anxious about the money for the West Port Church 
and schools being carefully expended. We never 
met a man who was more void of sordid feelings in 
what regarded his own personal affairs, but when he 
came to dispose of money committed to his care for 
philanthropic or religious purposes, he was jealous to 
an extreme. It was not his own — ^he considered it 
sacred ; he had to attend to the welfare of others — the 
paramount object was the moral and religious improve- 
ment of mankind. At this meeting he thought the 
expenditure on some of the articles, such as the gas 
and water, had been too great, and he waxed wroth on 
the matter. We never heard him more eloquent, or 
utter a more powerful tirade than he did on this occa- 
sion on what he at first deemed a wasteful expendi- 
ture. On inquiring at the architect, who was present, 
if estimates had been received for these branches 
of outlay; and, ascertaining that several respect- 
able tradesmen had competed, and the lowest esti- 
mates been taken, Dr Chalmers was assured that 
he might reheve his mind from any anxiety on the 



380 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



subject — that all was right and economical in a busi- 
ness point of view. This operated like a charm with 
him, and he closed the meeting with a most impressive 
prayer — in the course of which he implored our Hea- 
venly Father to pardon the infirmities of temper, and 
for heavenly guidance in all our actions. When roused 
on this occasion, he remarked, " Commercial society in 
this country is rotten to the very core." 

Friday, 16th April 1847. — At the Free Church 
Presbytery of Edinburgh, the Rev. Thomas Guth- 
rie mentioned that he knew an excellent Old Light 
Burgher who almost worshipped Dr Chalmers, but 
would not worship with him — an excellent hint to 
sectarians, whose vision does not extend beyond their 
own little denomination. 

Sabbath, 25th April 1847. — Dr Chalmers preached 
and presided at the first dispensation of the sacrament 
at the West Port Church. 

Monday, 26th April 1847. — Dr Chalmers said to 
Mr Tasker, his much- valued missionary at the West 
Port — I have received the desire of my heart — 
• the church is constituted — the schools for the young 
flourish. We have a substantial fabric — our ecclesias- 
tical machinery is in operation, and we are well-nigh 
fully equipped. God has answered my prayer, and 
now I feel that I can peaceably lay down my head and 
die." He seemed to have felt that his own great mis- 
sion in the world was nearly accomplished, and to 
have felt a presentiment of his approaching death. 

Dr Chalmers began now to feel a little the frailty of 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



381 



years upon him. On visiting a friend whom he much 
respected, he expressed the fatigue he felt in the follow- 
ing characteristic terms : — Do you know, Sir, that, as 
I was crossing Bruntsfield Links to-day, I felt so well 
that I said to myself — Thomas Chalmers, you are a 
strong man yet— see how firmly you walk ; but. Sir, 
when I came to mount your stands, I was obhged to 
change my tune, and say — Thomas Chalmers, you are 
getting frail. My thighs told me this, and. Sir, there 
is no more imimaginative part of a man than his 
thighs." 

We may take the opportunity here of introducing 
a few anecdotes of Dr Chalmers. 

On one occasion, when walking with him, we met 
a mutual acquaintance, a distinguished member of a 
learned profession, with whom, for want of proper 
explanations, Dr Chalmers had had some misunder- 
standing. They stopped and shook hands, and con- 
versed togetlier a few minutes. On coming away, 
Dr Chalmers remarked — Well, he's a fine fellow 
after all — it's something organic. Sir — something or- 
ganic ! " The lesson conveyed here might be useful 
to us all when we differ from our fellow-men — That 
we ought to judge charitably of others ; bear and 
forbear; and not always imagine that the blame Ues 
with those from whom we differ in opinion. How 
difficult, with their different mental organism, to get 
men to agree on any given subject ! 

On telling him that a person had remarked, that 
it was beneath his dignity to be going over Scotland 



382 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



delivering public addresses, he said, characteristically 
— Dignity ! we might die o' dignity 

Once, at his house at Morningside, we happened to 
mention that the Scotsman newspaper of that morn- 
ing had called him the Pope. He turned round 
to Mrs Chalmers, laughing heartily, and said — 

Do you hear, my dear, the Scotsman calls me the 
Pope?" 

When with him one day in his study at Inverleith 
Row, he took up a penknife from his desk, and said 
— Mr Anderson, had you ever a good penknife ? 
Do you know. Sir, it adds greatly to a man's happi- 
ness to have a good penknife ! " 

Looking at a small bust on one occasion, at his 
house in Forres Street, not doubting but it was some 
man of high and original genius, we inquired who it 
was. He replied, evidently much amused — Sir, 
that's Paganini!" But he could admire genius even 
when it touched only on one string. 

At his Divinity class, he used to instruct his man, 
John, to shut the door before the prehminary prayer, 
and not open it again till the conclusion of the lecture. 
John sometimes forgot this order, and admitted some 
who had been too late of coming. Once on his doing 
this, Dr Chalmers said — "John, shut the door." 
A second time, he said — "I say, John, finally, shut 
the door." And a third time, " I say, John, conclu- 
sively, shut the door !" 

So much was Dr Chalmers often wrapped up in the 
inner man, that he would sometimes come against a 



RE^nNISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



383 



table or a chair — perhaps his mind ehciting at the 
moment some of those ideas that were to benefit his 
species. In conversation, at times, he was so occupied 
internally, that at the moment he seemed not to hear 
what you said to him ; but, in a few minutes after, 
your observation would apparently fall for the first 
time on the tympanum of his ear, and he would give 
you a reply. 

At the later period of his life, talking to him of 
acquaintances, and one's visiting circles, he said, his 
desire now was just to keep up a few " intense inti- 
macies,'^ 

On speaking to him of the death of his friend, 
Dr Carstairs, minister of Anstruther Wester, he re- 
marked, that his contemporaries and old acquaint- 
ances were fast dropping around him, and he would 
himself now, just like a httle quiet or leisure to pre- 
pare for death. 

On one occasion, anxious to hear his opinion re- 
garding the prophetical battle of Armageddon, men- 
tioned in Scripture, whether he thought it would be 
a physical or spiritual battle ? he said, with his usual 
humihty, that he rather thought a spu^itual battle, 
though he had not studied the subject much. 

Wednesday, 5th May 1847. — Dr Chalmers at- 
tended a meeting of a select committee on the busi- 
ness of the Sustentation Fund of the Free Church of 
Scotland. He propounded his views on some im- 
portant points connected with its administration ; and 
as some of the leading men present differed from him, 



384 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 

he did not press his own opinions. He left the meet- 
ing rather jaded in spirits, and perhaps a httle chafed, 
conscious of the truth and largeness of his own views. 
He afterwards dined with a clerical friend, for whom 
he cherished a warm regard ; and, in the course of 
the afternoon, his genial spirit quite recovered its 
wonted tone, and he spent a most happy evening. 
Those who differed from him at this time, we beheve, 
are now satisfied he was right. In fact, the grasp 
and capacity of mind he evinced on all public ques- 
tions are becoming more obvious, the longer these 
questions are under public consideration. 

Thursday, 6th May 1847. — Dr Chalmers left his 
family at Churchhill, setting out with his son-in-law, 
the Rev. John M'Kenzie, on his last visit to London, 
contemplating at the same time a peregrination to- 
wards the south-west of England, to visit his sister, 
Mrs Morton. 

Sabbath, 9th May 1847. — Dr Chalmers preached at 
the Free Presbyterian Church, Regent Square, to-day, 
for the Rev. James Hamilton, D.D. On this occasion 
Lord John Russell, the Prime Minister of Great 
Britain, and many other distinguished characters 
heard him, and his discourse was marked with his 
usual power. 

Wednesday, 12th May 1847. — Dr Chalmers exa- 
mined before the Select Committee of the House of 
Commons on the refusal of sites for Free Churches. 
At no time was his mental acuteness more forcibly 
exhibited than on this occasion. Sir James Graham 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 385 

tried to baffle him with intricate and complex ques- 
tions on the proceedings of the Church of Scotland 
prior to the Disruption ; but here, with all the ease 
of a man conscious of his own powers, Dr Chalmers 
brought forward the clearest and most perspicuous 
answers, and left in them a valuable legacy to the 
Church. To the inquiry — Was it not, before the 
Reformation, a great question in dispute between the 
civil power and the ecclesiastical power where the 
line should be drawn?" He replied — "I believe it 
was, and I think that the ecclesiastical powers at that 
time were going beyond their province, I think that 
Popery and Erastianism stand as two opponents to 
each other ; that Popery makes inroads upon the civil 
province, and that Erastianism makes inroads upon 
the ecclesiastical ; and I think that the Church of 
Scotland adopted the golden medium between these 
two." 

How beautifully does he here bring out the entire 
difference between the aggressions of Popery, on the 
one hand, and the claims of the Church of Scotland, 
on the other, during the ten years conflict, between 
which, in the recent parliamentary debates, some pre- 
judiced men could not distinguish ! 

Sabbath, 16th May 1847. — Dr Chalmers preached 
in the Hanover Presbyterian Church, Brighton, from 
Romans, 8th chapter, 32d verse, to a crowded audi- 
ence. The following remarks are now of deeper 
interest, from the scene described being so near the 
close of his earthly career : — 

2b 



386 



EEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS, 



The place of worship was filled to overfiowmg, 
from it having become known that Thomas Chalmers 
was to occupy the pulpit; for, if there were many 
who had never seen this man before, there were few 
to whom his name and doings were not familiar as 
those of by far the most remarkable of living Scots- 
men. The Rev. A, J. Ross conducted the opening 
services. A robust figure then ascended the pulpit 
stairs. — Ere the preacher gave out his text or uttered 
a syllable, we were exceedingly impressed with his 
mere appearance. The head, by much too large for 
the average size of hat, and indicating that perhaps 
upwards of threescore winters have passed over it — 
the broad and massive and emphatic countenance, 
radiant as with a perennial benignity— the eye, heavy 
and leaden ere the latent fire kindle it — all tell of no 
common man : and, if the look of the preacher awoke 
expectancy, what he said, and the way he said it, 
must have sent each hearer home with the abiding per- 
suasion, that a great voice had been lifted up among 
us, and wistful lest its tones of pathos and power 
might never be heard by one of the worshippers 
again. 

The text was — ' He that spared not his own Son, 
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with 
him also freely give us all things?' We attempt no 
analysis of the sermon — a task, we believe, uncalled 
for by those who heard it, while no outline could con- 
vey any adequate conception. 

" The measured tones and the strong northern ac- 



REMmSCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



387 



cent were obstacles wherewith at the outset some had 
to struggle; hut as the voice rose and the subject 
grew, the old man, eloquent, arrested all; and, as 
one thouo;ht of the risino; race of Free Church 
preachers over whose theological studies Dr Chal- 
mers presides, and of the many labours of love and 
patriotism and philanthropy in which, with zeal un- 
quenched and wisdom aided by long experience, he 
is still engaged, we rejoiced to think that still the eye 
was not dim, nor much, if any, of his natural force 
abated." 

Sabbath, 23d May 1847. — Dr Chalmers preached, 
at an Independent Chapel near Thornbury, in the 
neighbourhood of Bristol, his sermon on " Fury is not 
in me" — having thus preached for three successive 
Sabbaths, a circumstance which had not occurred 
with him for many years. 

While at Bristol, he called on the widow of the 
celebrated Robert Hall, and on the daughters of 
John Foster. 

The last composition of Dr Chalmers on any pubhc 
question was the following paper on a national scheme 
of education, which originated in a conversation that 
took place a few days before in London between 
him and Mr Fox Maule, who, struck with the large- 
ness of Dr Chalmers's views, requested him to com- 
mit them to writing : he complied with the request 
whilst on his way home, at Whitfield, in Gloucester- 
shire. His observations are practical in their cha- 



388 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



racter, and may be regarded as a dying legacy to his 
country. 

On THE Educational Question. 
" It were the best state of things, that we had a 
Parliament sufficiently theological to discriminate be- 
tween the right and the wrong in religion, and to 
encourage or endow accordingly. But failing this, it 
seems to us the next best thing, that in any public 
measure for helping on the education of the people, 
Government were to abstain from introducing the 
element of religion at all into their part of the 
scheme, and this not because they held the matter 
to be insignificant — the contrary might be strongly 
expressed in the preamble of their act ; but on the 
ground that, in the present divided state of the 
Christian world, they would take no cognisance of, 
just because they would attempt no control over, the 
religion of applicants for aid — leaving this matter 
entire to the parties who had to do with the erection 
and management of the schools which they had been 
called upon to assist. A grant by the State upon this 
footing might be regarded as being appropriately and 
exclusively the expression of their value for a good 
secular education. 

The confinement for the time being of any Go- 
vernment measure for schools to this object we hold 
to be an imputation, not so much on the present state 
of our Legislature, as on the present state of the 
Christian world, now broken up into sects and parties 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 389 



innumerable, and seemingly incapable of any effort 
for SO healing these wretched divisions as to present 
the rulers of our country with aught like such a clear 
and unequivocal majority in favour of what is good 
and true, as might at once determine them to fix upon 
and to espouse it. 

It is this which has encompassed the Government 
with difficulties, from which we can see no other me- 
thod of extrication than the one which we have ven- 
tured to suggest. And as there seems no reason why, 
because of these unresolved differences, a public mea- 
sure for the health of all — for the recreation of all — 
for the economic advancement of all — should be held 
in abeyance, there seems as little reason why, because 
of these differences, a public measure for raising the 
general inteUigence of all should be held in abeyance. 
Let the men, therefore, of all churches and all deno- 
minations ahke hail such a measure, whether as car- 
ried into effect by a good education in letters or in 
any of the sciences; and, meanwhile, in these very 
seminaries, let that education in religion which the 
Legislature abstains from providing for, be provided 
for as freely and amply as they will by those who 
have undertaken the charge of them. 

" We should hope, as the result of such a scheme, 
for a most wholesome rivalship on the part of many 
in the great aim of rearing on the basis of their re- 
spective systems a moral and Christian population, 
well taught in the principles and doctrines of the 
gospel, along with being well taught in the lessons of 



390 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



ordinary scholarship. Although no attempt should 
be made to regulate or to enforce the lessons of reli- 
gion in the inner hall of legislation, this will not pre- 
vent, but rather stimulate to a greater earnestness in 
the contest between truth and falsehood — between 
light and darkness — in the outer field of society ; nor 
will the result of such a contest in favour of what is 
right and good be at all the more unlikely, that the 
families of the land have been raised by the helping 
hand of the State to a higher platform than be- 
fore, whether as respects their health, or their 
physical comfort, or their economic condition^ or, 
last of all, their place in the scale of intelligence and 
learning. 

Religion would, under such a system, be the im- 
mediate product, not of legislation, but of the Chris- 
tian and philanthropic zeal which obtained through- 
out society at large. But it is well when what legis- 
lation does for the fulfilment of its object tends not 
to the impediment, but rather,, we apprehend, to 
the furtherance, of those greater and higher objects 
which are in the contemplation of those whose de- 
sires are chiefly set on the immortal well-being of 
man. 

" On the basis of these general views, I have two 
remarks to offer regarding the Government scheme 
of education. 

" 1. I should not require a certificate of satisfaction 
with the religious progress of the scholars from the 
managers of the schools, in order to their receiving 



EEMIXISCEXCE3 OF DR CHAL.MERS. 



391 



the Government aid. Such a certificate from Unita- 
rians or Cathohcs imphes the direct sanction or coun- 
tenance by Government to their respective creeds, 
and the responsibihtv, not of allowing, but, more than 
this, of requiring, that these shall be taught to the 
children who attend. A bare allowance is but a general 
toleration; but a requirement involves in it all the 
mischief, and, I would add, the guilt, of an indiscrimi- 
nate endowment for truth and error. 

" 2. I would suffer parents or natural guardians to 
select what parts of the education thev wanted for 
their children. I would not force arithmetic upon 
them, if all they wanted was writing and reading ; and 
as little would I force the Catechism, or any part of 
the religious instruction that was given in the school, 
if all they wanted was a secular education. That the 
manao-ers in the Church of Eno;land schools shall have 
the power to impose their Catechism upon the childi^en 
of Dissenters, and, still more, to compel their attend- 
ance on church, I regard as among the worst parts 
of the scheme. 

" The above observations, it will be seen, meet any 
questions which might be put in regard to the appU- 
cability of the scheme to Scotland, or in regard to the 
use of the Douay version in Roman Cathohc schools. 

I cannot conclude without expressing my despair 
of any great or general good being effected in the 
way of Christianizing our population, but through the 
medium of a Government themselves Christian, and 
endowing the true religion, which I hold to be their 



392 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



imperative duty, not because it is the religion of the 
many, but because it is true. 

" The scheme on which I have now ventured to 
offer these few observations I should like to be adopted, 
not because it is absolutely the best, but only the best 
in existing circumstances. 

The endowment of the Catholic religion by the 
State I should deprecate, as being ruinous to the coun- 
try in all its interests. Still, I do not look for the 
general Christianity of the people but through the 
medium of the Christianity of their rulers. This is a 
lesson taught historically in Scripture by what we 
read there of the influence which the personal char- 
acter of the Jewish monarchs had on the moral and 
religious state of their subjects — it is taught ex^peri- 
mentally by the impotence, now fully established, of 
the Voluntary principle — and, last, and most decisive 
of all, it is taught prophetically in the book of Reve- 
lation, when told that then will the kingdoms of the 
earth {^aaCkeiai, or governing powers) become the 
kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ ; or the govern- 
ments of the earth become Christian governments. 

Thomas Chalmers." 

On his way to Edinburgh, Dr Chalmers spent two 
days with Mr and Mrs Backhouse at Darlington. Mrs 
Backhouse is the daughter of the late John Joseph 
Gurney, Esq. 

Friday, 28th May 1847. — Dr Chalmers's secretary 
summoned a committee on the West Port accounts, 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



393 



finally to arrange them before Dr Chalmers's return. 
It was known, from the deep interest he took in the 
matter, that this would be gratifying to him. Dr 
Chalmers returned to his residence at Churchhill, 
Morningside, in apparent good health from his visit 
to England. 

Saturday, 29th May 1847. — He was visited by 
several of his friends, among others by the Eev. W. K. 
Tweedie, from whose valuable services he had often 
derived great benefit. He accompanied Mr Tweedie 
to the head of Bruntsfield Links in excellent spirits, 
giving him an account of what had occurred during 
his recent visit to London. 

Sabbath, 3Qth May 1847. — Dr Chalmers attended 
pubUc worship at the Free Church, Morningside. 

In the afternoon he called on his old and venerable 
friend Mrs Coutts, at her residence at Bruntsfield 
Place. She was the widow of the Rev. Robert Coutts 
of Brechin, who had succeeded Dr Chalmers as assis- 
tant to Professor Vilant at St Andrews. Dr Chal- 
mers wrote an interesting preface to a new edition of 
his sermons, pubHshed this year, and he always kept 
up an intimate friendship with Mrs Coutts. 

In the evening Dr Chalmers took a walk in his 
garden at Churchhill, and was in a happy frame of 
mind, with his feelings lifted up to his heavenly 
Father. After retiring to his room he wrote an 
affectionate letter to his sister, Mrs Morton. 

Monday, 31st May 1847. — Dr Chalmers was found 
dead in his bed this morning at half-past eight. His 



394 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



friend Professor MacDougall had called early in the 
morning to see him. When the servant knocked at 
his room door there was no answer, and some time 
after, on going in, his body was found in calm repose, 
with life departed. This event came like a shock of 
electricity on all. Seldom had any occurrence made 
such a profound sensation in Edinburgh. To those 
who loved him dearly, his presence in that city had 
made it for many years a more delightful place to live 
in, and here were they suddenly and unexpectedly 
bereaved of him whom they had so highly prized. 
But their grief was selfish — he had done his work; he 
was summoned by the Master whom he had so faith- 
fully served. He often had a fear of the physical 
sufferings of death, or of living, as he expressed it, till 
his brain had become '^fozzy" — meaning his mental 
faculties impaired. But he was now translated calmly 
and quietly to heaven, apparently without a moment's 
suffering, for there was a look of repose on the features 
which, as one of his friends remarked, seemed to say, 
" / am gone upJ' 

Dr Chalmers was to have presented the report of 
the College Committee to the General Assembly of 
the Free Church of Scotland this day; but on the 
Assembly meeting, the Moderator, Dr Sievewright of 
Markinch, read the 90th Psalm, and offered up a most 
affecting and appropriate prayer, and in a few solemn 
expressions informed the Assembly of the death of Dr 
Chalmers. The overpowering effect of such a calamity 
could not, he said, be expressed in words. He pro- 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



395 



posed tliat under these afflicting circumstances they 
should suspend all business, and adjourn till noon next 
day, which was unanimously agreed to, most of the 
members evidently deeply affected. 

Tuesday, 1st June 1847. — The General Assembly 
of the Free Church again adjourned from all business 
in consequence of the death of Dr Chalmers. 

Wednesday, 2d June 1847. — The Assembly of the 
Free Church engaged in devotions, and agreed to 
adjourn all their ordinary business till after the funeral 
of Dr Chalmers. 

Thursday, 3d June 1847. — At the General Assem- 
bly of the Free Church, Dr Candlish said, in speaking 
of the death of Dr Chalmers — There is a very em- 
phatic lesson taught by this bereavement. If there be 
any one commission more than another that he hath 
left to this Church, it is a commission to preach the 
gospel in all the land. His leading, his ruhng passion, 
we may say, in connexion with our Church, was, that 
it should be a great home missionary institution. He 
has left us that work to prosecute. He has given us 
once and again specimens of the manner in which he 
would have it accomplished. He has been spared long 
enough to shew us an example, since the Disruption, 
of the possibility of carrying out his plan; and his 
voice to us now assuredly is, ' Go and possess the 
land.' Next to the neglect of practical religion among 
ourselves, is the neglect of the multitude who are 
perishing around us for lack of knowledge, Next to 
the revival of personal godliness among us, is the 



396 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



preaching of the everlasting gospel to the outcast of 
the population. The sin of the Christian Church — 
that sin which our father never failed to point out to 
us, is the sin of selfishness — the tendency to settle 
down into a contented enjoyment of the means of 
grace ourselves, and suffer the vast multitude around 
us to perish for lack of knowledge. Let us, Sir, pay 
the best of all tributes to the memory of our departed 
father, the tribute of carrying out now what was the 
dearest wish of his heart while he was among us. We 
have always professed to call ourselves the JSTational 
Church, and to charge ourselves, under God, with the 
responsibility which that name involves. With too 
many of us this has been, I fear, but a boast, but a 
name, but a profession. With him it was a reality . It 
was the business of his life. For years he has laboured 
to plant the gospel and the means of grace among the 
destitute of the people. If we would as a Church 
improve this visitation aright, let us be up and doing 
the work of a Church — let us be spreading the gospel 
over all the land. Apart from the blank his removal 
has occasioned, there is nothing really to regret in the 
departure of this saint and servant of the Most High. 
Scarcely a work unfinished has he left upon earth — 
scarcely a plan, whether pubUc or private, that hath 
not been in so far accomplished as that he might in 
reference to it depart in peace. It assuredly is not 
without meaning in God's providence, that the last 
service rendered to the Church of our fathers by our 
departed friend should be the recording, not as in a 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 397 



random speechj not as in a casual conversation, not as 
in the heat of controversy, but as upon a judicial in- 
vestigation, and before the rulers of the land — re- 
cording his emphatic testimony for the principles of 
the Free Church of Scotland. One more remark I 
must be allowed to make. It cannot but have struck 
many of the brethren as a remarkable circumstance, 
that the last three Sabbaths of the hfe of our friend — 
if we except the Sabbath immediately preceding his 
decease — that these three Sabbaths in England were, 
I beheve, almost, if not literally, the only three suc- 
cessive Sabbaths in which, for some considerable time, 
for years past, he has been able to preach the ever- 
lasting gospel. Our father was known in the Church, 
first as a preacher of God's Word, of the evangel of 
Jesus Christ. He was spared to spend these three 
Sabbaths in England in the preaching of the Word, 
ending as he began in the simple proclamation of the 
truth as it is in Jesus." 

Friday, Ath June 1847. — The funeral of Dr 
Chalmers took place in Edinburgh. The mourners 
were hterally going about the streets. The procession 
consisted of about two thousand individuals. The fol- 
lowing is from the powerful and graphic pen of Mr 
Hugh Miller :— 

" The remains of this truly great man were committed 
to the grave, in the presence of a vast concourse, con- 
sisting of clergymen of all denominations in Scotland, 
the authorities of the city, and individuals of all ranks 
in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other places, who had 



398 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS'. 



come to give this last token of the love and veneration 
in which they had held the deceased. The morning^ 
vras rather cold and cloudy, and at mid-day the haze 
still continued, giving a sombre aspect to the landscape, 
which accorded with the melancholy duties in which 
the day was to be spent. The whole city wore an air 
of mourning, which increased as the hour approached 
when the obsequies were to commence. The General 
Assembly of the Free Church met in Free St Andrew's 
Church, with deputations from the Presbyterian 
Churches of England and Ireland, and also ministers 
from foreign parts attending the Assembly. A large 
body of citizens, desirous of testifying respect to the 
memory of the deceased, assembled in Charlotte Square, 
also the Magistrates and Town-Council of the city. 
At one o'clock, the General iVssembly left Free St 
Andrew's Church, the Moderator and ofSce-bearers in 
front. The members of Assembly were followed by 
the professors of the New College. The ministers 
and elders took their place immediately behind the 
professors. Next came the ministers of other denomi- 
nations. These were followed by the probationers 
and students. Thus formed, the procession moved, 
headed by the Magistrates and Town-Council, At the 
Main Point, the committee and congregation of the 
Territorial Church, West Port, were drawn up, and 
fell into the rear. The procession moved on by the 
Links to Churchhill ; and having arrived within fifty 
yards of the gate leading to the house of the deceased, 
it halted, and then proceeded by Lauriston and Newing- 



EEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



399 



ton, till it reached Salisbury Road, where it turned to 
the road leading to the cemetery at Grange. The route 
traversed by the procession could not be less than 
three miles in length. It was lined throughout its 
entire extent with deeply impressed spectators, and 
not a few in tears. The high grounds at the Liriks, 
and, in short, every open space on the line of road, 
were occupied by vast crowds. When the funeral 
train entered the city the shops were almost all shut, 
and every window presented its groups of sympathising 
and sorrowing faces. 

" About four o'clock, the procession reached the gate 
of the burial-ground. It had now received a consider- 
able accession to its numbers. A place had been 
assigned, within the walls of the Cemetery, to the 
children attending the West Port school, over which 
Dr Chalmers had watched with all the interest and 
solicitude of a father. These, during the time that 
elapsed previous to the arrival of the procession, sung 
several appropriate hymns. When the head of the 
procession reached the grave, the rear had just entered 
the grounds. The ranks formed themselves into two 
lines, between which the coffin, with its plate inscribed 
thus, — 

Thomas Chalmrs, 
D.D., 
Died 31st May 1847, 
Aged 
67 Years, 

was borne along, followed by the son of Dr Hanna, as 



400 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



chief mourner^ and the relatives of the deceased. The 
moment the coffin was lowered into the grave was 
known in the most distant part of the ground by 
the party around the grave uncovering — an act which 
was followed along the whole line. The members of 
the procession no longer retained their places. As if 
attracted by some irresistible influence, they all drew 
towards the grave, and gathering round it in one vast 
multitude, they stood in silent awe while the dust was 
piled above the mighty dead. 

''Dust to dust ;— the grave now holds all that was 
mortal of Thomas Chalmers. Never before did we 
witness such a funeral ; nay^ never before, in at least 
the memory of man, did Scotland witness such a 
funeral. Greatness of the mere extrinsic type can 
always command a showy pageant ; but mere extrinsic 
greatness never yet succeeded in purchasing the tears 
of a people ; and the spectacle was such as mere 
rank or wealth, when at the highest or the fullest, 
were never yet able to buy. It was a solemn tribute, 
spontaneously paid to departed goodness and greatness 
by the public mind. 

" Dr Chalmers had expressed a wish to be buried in 
the lately-opened cemetery at Grange, situated on the 
pleasant rising ground, — once, we believe, a portion 
of the old Boroughmoor,— little more than half a mile 
from his residence at Morningside. It is a singularly 
beautiful spot, surrounded on all sides by green fields, 
and on the south and west by lines of well-grown 
forest trees, that must have seen at least their century. 



REMIXISCEXCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



401 



Andj sweeping downwards, it commands within its 
range of prospect, every more striking feature of the 
scenery for which Edinburgh and its neighbourhood 
are so remarkable. 

" Chahners, hke all the truly great, may be said 
rather to have created than to have belonged to an 
era. Influenced by the past, like all men, he was 
yet less influenced by it in its immediate connexion 
with his own Church and country, than any of our 
other o;reat ecclesiastical leaders, since the davs of 
Knox. He could feel the poetry of the times of the 
Covenant, and sympathise with the Christian men who 
died in behalf of the rights and liberties of their 
Church — rights and liberties identical in those ages 
with the cause of relioion itself: but in lookino; for his 
patterns and examples, he did what was done by all 
our first Eeformers, — passed over those uninspired 
times, on which we are perhaps too apt to linger, im- 
pressed rather by the wholesome admiration of what 
our fathers did for God. than bv what God did for 
them, — and rested his whole mind on that more 
wonderful time when the adorable Redeemer walked 
our earth in the flesh, and fallible men, inspired 
by the Spirit, gave infallible testimony regarding 
Him. 

" Churches long bear the impress lent them by the 
character of their founders. The Puritanism of New 
England has not yet wholly resigned the stamp im- 
printed on it by the Pilgrim Fathers ; and Wesleyism 
still exhibits not a few of the distinctive personal 

2c 



402 



KEMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



peculiarities of John Wesley. We have seen many 
remarks on the character of Chalmers, but never yet a 
single remark on what has ever appeared to us as its 
most wonderful feature. Men are so constituted, not 
only in the average, but in even very high specimens, 
that the existence among them of two great parties, — 
the movement party and the stationary one, — seems 
inevitable. There would be no progress without the 
impetus of the one, and no stability without the weight 
of the other. In the working of the vessel, — whether 
that of Church or State, — the instinct of the one party 
leads it to busy itself with the hoisting of the sails, and 
that of the other with the laying in of the ballast. 
Now, it was peculiarly extraordinary in Chalmers, 
that he was not of either, but of both parties, — at once 
far in advance of the movement men, and firmest 
amongst the most firm of the stationary ; — at once a 
promulgator of new truths, which in a better age than 
the present the world will gladly reduce to practice, 
and a determined conservator of old truths, and of 
what is truly good in the old state of things. Men 
being what they are, party seems inevitable ; and 
yet how vast the waste of exertion which it occasions! 
In a world of Chalmerses there would be no party, 
and no need for it. The progress of the species, 
owing to the more complete construction of the intel- 
lectual machine, would go on steadily and safely with- 
out the drag. 

" Washington Irving has compared some of our great 
writers, w^hose works have fixed the language, to huge 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



403 



trees flourishing beside the banks of a river, that cast 
out an immense extent of closely-reticulated rootage, 
and thus preserve around them the loose soil, which, 
save for the protection they afford, v^^ould be washed 
out by the hollowing eddies, and swept to the sea. 
The illustration, in another and different application, 
brings out our idea of one of the great characteristics 
of Chalmers. He formed such a tree, and secured the 
institution in which he had taken deep root, and which 
sheltered under his shadow, against the disintegrating 
wear of the current. But the stately oak has fallen 
in its place.'' 

Sabbath, 6th June 1847. — Dr Sievewright, Mode- 
rator of the General Assembly of the Free Church, 
preached the funeral sermon of Dr Chalmers in the 
forenoon, at Canonmills Hall. His text was — Moses 
my servant is dead ; " and Dr Gordon in the afternoon, 
his text being somewhat similar — And Moses was an 
hundred and twenty years old when he died : his eye 
was not dim, nor his natural force abated." The hall 
was crowded — between three and four thousand people 
present, and immense numbers could not obtain ad- 
mission. 

The death of Dr Chalmers was deplored not only 
over Scotland and England, but in America, and all 
other parts of the civilised world. 

We believe that Mr Fox Maule and other influential 
individuals had recommended to Lord John Russell 
that her Majesty Queen Victoria should bestow a 
mark of national gratitude towards the memory of Dr 



404 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



Chalmers, and It is probable that the idea had occurred 
to many of his countrymen at the same time. 

Wednesday, 16th June 1847. — We ventured to 
address the following letter to Lord John Russell. 
Sir Robert Peel remarked at a later period, There 
is a great disposition to write to ministers— to send 
suggestions; and it is very useful that there should be 
that free voluntary communication upon all matters 
of public concern:" — "My Lord, — I take the liberty 
of addressing you, to make a suggestion which, I 
think, may be in consonance both with your Lordship's 
private feelings and sense of public duty— the be- 
stowing of a pension on the widow and family of Dr 
Chalmers. His is a name, I believe you are aware, 
which belongs to no sect, denomination, or country — it 
belongs to the whole Christian world. It takes its 
place among the Luthers and Melancthons — the 
Howards and the Wilberforces — ^the Newtons and the 
Miltons — and the names of greatest worth and genius 
the world has ever seen. However consonant with 
your feelings this may be, I venture to make it, simply 
because, among the multifarious and important mat- 
ters that occupy your Lordship's time, it is just pos- 
sible that the idea may have escaped your attention, 
and I suggest it, not that I have the least reason to 
think that the family require it, but as a tribute of 
gratitude due from the nation to so great and so use- 
ful a writer — one who, by his writings, has perhaps 
done more good than any man living. 

" It has occurred to me that your Lordship could 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



405 



not have heard of the sudden departure of this great 
and good man without considerable emotion, more 
especially after having so recently heard him descant, 
with all his fervent and glowing eloquence, upon the 
uncertainty of hfe^ — depicting death entering the 
baronial hall, and looking, not at the parchments or 
the gold, but walking directly to the owner of the 
mansion, and seizing him as his ready prey. 

" Trusting you Will excuse this liberty, I have the 
honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedi- 
ent servant." 

To this, in course of post, we received a polite offi- 
cial acknowledgment, through his Lordship's Secre- 
tary, Mr W. R. Grey. 

Tuesday, 22d June 1847. — Lord John Russell ad- 
dressed the following autograph letter to the widow 
of Dr Chalmers : — 

" Chesham Place, June 22, 1847. 
" Madam, — I have the satisfaction of informing you, 
that the Queen, taking into her consideration the 
piety, eloquence, and learning of the late Dr Chal- 
mers, has been pleased to command that a pension of 
two hundred pounds a year should be settled upon 
you and your daughters, out of her Majesty's civil list. 

Allow me to add, that I trust that this act of 
the Queen may render the remainder of your life as 
tolerable as the loss of so eminent and excellent a 
partner will permit. — I have the honour to be. Madam, 
your obedient faithful servant, 

J. Russell.'^ 



406 REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



This was alike creditable to our gracious Queen — 
who lives in the affections of her people— and to her 
Prime Minister. 

Mr Hugh Miller, a few days after, commenting on 
this gracious deed of the Sovereign, remarked — "Never 
was there a man who strove more to benefit his 
country, by the spread, among all ranks, of the 
^ righteousness that exalteth a nation,' than Dr Chal- 
mers ; or who so exerted himself to bridge over that 
perilous gulf which yawns between the higher and 
lower orders, by unceasing messages of peace and 
good-will. The last time we heard him preach was 
in his favourite West Port, to the poor and previously 
neglected inhabitants of that locality ; and among the 
high enunciations of Heaven's own scheme of salva- 
tion were there the wonted reiterated assurance on 
the part of the preacher of a feehng of good-will and 
sympathy entertained towards the poorer people by 
the upper classes. The pecuniary sacrifices of Dr 
Chalmers in his mission of good, will never be ade- 
quately known ; for the same cast of mind which led 
him to do much on his comparatively limited means, 
had the effect also of making him shrink sensitively 
from observation. On expressing our pleasure to a 
friend, — a minister of the Free Church, — ^that on this 
occasion the Monarch should have been so well ad- 
vised, — ' Oh,' he remarked, ' whatever is generous 
and delicate harmonises well with the memory of Dr 
Chalmers. I was one of his pupils at the Disruption, 
when, in consequence of my adherence to the Free 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 407 



Church, I, as you know, forfeited my school. On 
paying the Doctor my first fees after the event, there 
were several persons present, and he received them as 
usual. He invited me, however, to breakfast with 
him next morning, and, taking me into a room apart, 
returned the money. I had made sacrifices, he said. 
I hesitated ; for I knew that he also had made sacri- 
fices ; but his reply was of a kind suited to prevent 
any rejoinder. " I take no fees," he said, from outed 
schoolmasters, or the sons of ministers who have re- 
signed their livings." * The amount silently sacrificed 
in this way must have been very considerable indeed; 
but such was the character of the man." 

Walking, by the Meadows, a few weeks after the 
funeral, intending to visit Dr Chalmers's grave — a 
spot to which many a traveller and pilgrim will hence- 
forth repair, we turned to the right to Churchhill, 
knowing that Dr Chalmers's widow, being in deli- 
cate health, would be at home, we thought it not 
unsuitable, under pecuUar circumstances — a severe 
domestic bereavement — to have our first interview 
with Mrs Chalmers after the death of her husband. 
We were gratified to find her in her usual — a serene 
frame of mind. Her conversation was soothing and 
instructive. While concurring in the view that we 
should rather rejoice than mourn for Dr Chalmers — 
and an aged friend whom we had lost — the one hav- 
ing been spared till he had done so much good, and 
the other to an extraordinary age, to be a blessing to 
his family, — she observed, that the great point was 



408 



REMmiSCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 



the personal improvement of these dispensations. It 
was remarked how dangerous the world is for under- 
mining our better resolutions; and that we remembered 
a conversation with Dr Chalmers and her on the same 
subject several years before, when we had just re- 
covered from a severe illness ; and we had since ex- 
perienced this danger. Mrs Chalmers remarked, we 
are apt not to use the appointed means — not to take 
the food — the spiritual food — -needed ; we never forget 
to take breakfast or dinner, but we forget to take that 
food. She remarked, the ividow has a promise, but 
not only her, but all have the promise — " Ask, and ye 
shall receive," and if we continue to ask, we shall 
receive. How can we expect part in so glorious an 
inheritance, if we are not anxiously seeking for it ? 

Dr Chalmers had formed a very high standard for 
the Christian character, and it was remarked lately, 
that he had been early struck with the magnitudes of 
mathematics, and could grapple with them, but when 
he came to serious views in religion, he saw that its 
magnitudes were infinitely greater — mathematics had 
space and time in which to expatiate, but rehgion had 
the magnitude of eternity for her object and subject. 
Mrs Chalmers mentioned that Dr Chalmers had some- 
times talked of writing more commercial discourses. 
We observed that his former series had been most 
practically useful. She understood they had been so, 
that they had made a considerable impression, and 
done good in Glasgow. One merchant gave up busi- 
ness in consequence of reading them — he did not like 



REMINISCENCES OF DR CHALMERS. 409 

its irregularities and peccadilloes. On this we told her 
the interesting statement we had from an officer of 
rank, of his attending Dr Chalmers's Divinity class on 
his first return from India being the means of, after 
the indifference and carelessness of Indian life, awaken- 
ing him to right views in religion. This anecdote was 
very pleasing to Mrs Chalmers. She had often wished 
Dr Chalmers to write prayers, but he had not done it. 
She had been desirous of a series of perhaps three or 
four weeks, which the family might use when he was 
from home. Many years ago we had also urged him 
to write a volume of prayers on account of the good it 
would do, and the wide circulation it would have ob- 
tained over the world ; but no wonder, with his mani- 
fold avocations, he never accomplished this. We 
never met with an individual who had the power Dr 
Chalmers possessed of lifting the mind above earthly 
views. 

Mrs Chalmers did not long survive her husband, — 
she died 16th January 1850, leaving a family of six 
daughters. 

THE END. 



J. A. BALLANTYNE, PKINTEE, PAUL'S WORK, EDINBUEGH. 



0. 



ERRATUM. 



Page 384 — Sabbath^ dth May 1847. — Instead of the Presbyterian 
Church, Regent Square, it was for his namesake, the 
Rev. William Chalmers, at Marylebone Presbyterian 
Church, that Dr Chalmers preached. 



\ \ 



7 



> 




.4 



X ^ ^^^^ 



• * * A 




V ... V "^ .s* ... ^ 






S " • r 





« 0 



\ » . If • 




0* »r"J^% 




V ^'''^ t ^ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 

I* ♦#f\\? Neutralizino acipnt- Mannooii.ry, r»^,:-^« 



^Xll^** ^^^"^ \^ PreservationTechnologies 

••p • » * A <^ , A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

% O * * • ♦ ^ ^ ^ Thomson Park Drive 



Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2006 



y o 



Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 







^^^^^^ ' 









APR 82 



N. MANCHESTER, 
INDIANA 46962 



